Avengers: Rise of Alliances
by StoryLover95
Summary: After the battle for New York a month prior all has been quiet and there has been no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Except for the entire S.H.I.E.L.D computer system crashing. With no idea how to fix it, and even Bruce Banner and Tony Stark not able to fix it, they turn to experts... Kiotr, Steve/Nat, Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane, Romy, Clint/OC and others.
1. Computer Glitch

A/N: Hey everyone! I recently watched the movie the Avengers and me being the absolute nerd with anything and everything comic or superhero related, I absolutely loved it! Soooo I figured that I'd write a story for the movie, but I thought I'd make it a crossover with the X-Men! I mean, come on. A throw down in New York was bound to catch the attention of the mutants, and I'm sure the mutants caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. Set a month after the Avengers movie, and during the years after the end of X-Men: Evolution! So, here's a story, which will have a bit of some ideas from the comics, but also an OC. Hope you all like it!

Full Summary: After the battle for New York a month prior the Avengers have all taken a well needed rest, and Thor has returned from imprisoning Loki in Asgard. All has been quiet and there has been no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Except for the entire S.H.I.E.L.D computer system crashing. With no idea how to fix it, and even Bruce Banner and Tony Stark not able to fix it, they turn to experts. Two geniuses, specializing in computers, with a wide variety of skill sets. But will that fly with their very primal overprotective father figure, or a very large Russian boyfriend?

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men, only my OC.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 1: Computer Glitch

For those watching Nick Fury fume and bark orders on the Helicarrier, they would say without a doubt that he was furious, no pun intended. He was positively livid as he screamed at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, trying to get someone, anyone, to figure out what happened to their computer system and fix it. It had only been twenty minutes earlier that the computer system had shut down, and most had written it off as a prank by Tony Stark and his new science partner, Bruce Banner. It was only after Tony and Bruce came out complaining that they needed a notice when S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to shut down the computer systems, that Fury realized it wasn't a prank.

Everyone had shifted into a sort of emergency, buzzing around, trying to make sure none of their top secret files had been stolen, but not even some of the most brilliant computer analysts had been able to get back onto the server. The Avengers had all, luckily, been on the Helicarrier spending a day conversing and team building. Had they not been, Fury wouldn't have been able to call any of them in if there was any emergency.

Thor and Steve sat back in the meeting room, not at all sure of what was going on seeing as both were essentially inept when it came to technology. Natasha and Clint helped wherever they could, but didn't dare touch a computer, lest they make matters worse. "Banner! Can't you help fix this mess?" Fury called out as he saw the scientist and the rest of the team sitting at the table.

Bruce looked and shrugged. "I'm a scientist, not a computer analyst. I'd be no use to you."

Fury growled. "And you Stark?"

"I use computers, I'm not good at fixing them," Tony retorted before looking pensive. "I could have JARVIS look into it."

"Then get on it."

Tony rolled his eyes but got to work, grabbing a computer and hooking JARVIS up to the server. "You really think that'll work?" Natasha asked skeptically as she sat down next to Steve at the table. The other Avengers merely watched as the playboy millionaire kicked his feet up on the computer console playing with an apple he had been eating.

"Absolutely, should be a piece of cake for JARVIS," Tony said with absolute confidence. JARVIS was able to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. systems once, he would be able to do it again. Then all he would have to do was solve the problem affecting the computer system and all would be right with the world.

"I do not see what the issue is," Thor spoke up, extremely confused as to what was going on with the computers.

Tony smiled, happy to explain. "Well, what happened is that the sever shut down due to some unknown cause and-"

"What's a server?" Steve asked.

Tony sighed. "The computers stopped working. We're fixing it," Bruce simplified, not wanting to hear an entire explanation as to what a server was and the other various components of a computer. Steve and Thor made an 'O' shape with their mouths as they accepted the explanation.

"**Accessing S.H.I.E.L.D systems now, Mr. Stark."**

"Brilliant JARVIS. Now we can get the pirate over there to stop barking orders for at least a good five minutes," Tony snickered.

There was a few seconds where Tony had started up a conversation about getting schwarma seeing as they were heading towards New York, but was soon cut off as JARVIS started speaking up again. **"Virus, corrupting internal systems. Hacking Stark mainframe."**

Almost immediately Tony jumped up and started typing away at the computer, ripping out the hacking device that he had planted to allow JARVIS to get into S.H.I.E.L.D. database. "JARVIS?" Tony asked nervously.

"**Stark mainframe is secure. The virus has disabled some of my features. Manual restart is recommended."**

Steve looked up optimistically. "So, does that mean it worked?"

Tony tossed Steve an annoyed look before reframing himself from making a snarky remark. The super soldier was just that clueless with computers. "Fury!" Tony called out, motioning for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to walk over to the group of heroes. Fury did so in annoyance.

"What?" He barked.

Tony looked at him seriously. "This is a bigger problem than we thought."

Fury glared, wondering why Tony was wasting his time telling him things he already knew. "No shit, we can see that Stark."

"No you don't get it," Bruce spoke up, understanding what Tony was talking about. "JARVIS was infected with a virus and was being used to hack Stark systems in a little under ten seconds."

"Your point?"

"Our point is, that whatever this virus is that has infected your systems, it's nasty. JARVIS was made with every security precaution my analysts could think of, and I added a few security measures of my own," Tony explained. "If your virus can infect him in under ten seconds and begin hacking my systems, then your agents wont be able to figure out the problem."

"So you're saying we what? Give up and scrap the system?" Clint asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Tony looked around the room, knowing what he was going to say was going to receive a lot of resistance. "What I'm saying is that we need professionals. People who are trained to deal with this type of problems, but are on a level of intellect akin to mine and Dr. Banner's."

"Your really suggesting that we bring civilians on the Helicarrier to toy around with our systems?" Natasha asked in shock.

Steve frowned. "I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"They're right. What makes you think I would even entertain the idea of having civilians aboard?" Fury asked, thinking Tony Stark was crazy. And he was 99% sure that Stark _was_ indeed crazy.

"You don't have a choice. It's either bring aboard help, or you'll lose all your classified files to whoever it is that planted the virus," Bruce spoke up in defense of his friend.

Nick Fury paused for a moment and had a very large internal battle. He growled as one side won out. He looked at both Bruce and Tony, a scowl on his face as he asked the question that shocked the rest of the Avengers. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

Tony nodded. "I have two in mind. Young, but brilliant…"

* * *

"Hey Kitty, you ready?"

Kitty Pryde looked up from the clothing options on her bed to see a head poking through her door. A red-head girl with cascading waves of curly hair reaching her back. She was a bit taller than Kitty, but still short enough to be made fun of by the boys of the Institute (Bobby and Evan taking the most fun out of poking fun at the two girls). She wore a pair of jean that had holes in the knees, an orange off the shoulder shirt that cut off at her rib cage, showing a large portion of her toned stomach, and a pair of flip flops. Kitty noticed the straps of a purple bikini top peeking out from the shirt, and that she had toe rings on.

"Hey Gene, look at you looking all cute," Kitty complimented as she smiled at her friend Genevieve Renee LeBeau, AKA Marvel Girl. She had been one of the newest recruits after the team up between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Kitty had met her in college, seeing as they were both in the same classes; Gene was going by the name Genevieve Renee then. It was after Kitty brought Gene to the mansion that Remy blew the whistle on her, running up to his younger sister and gretting her warmly. A few days after, she had joined the X-Men. She was quite adept at martial arts, which made her want to befriend Kitty all the more after the Ogun situation, while most people initially feared the change in skill from their Shadowcat.

Gene smiled at the compliment before perching herself on the small bean bag chair in the room. "Thanks. So why aren't you dressed yet? Peter said you were getting ready before all of us?"

From out of the bathroom walked Rogue, rolling her eyes and flopping down on her bed dramatically. The Southern mutant looked up at her the two girls who were like sisters to her and smiled. "Hey Gene, ya look good. And ta answer ya question, Kitty has been goin' through all her shirts, lookin' for the 'perfect one'."

Gene smiled, in understanding. Kitty loved to look good.

Kitty blew a strand of hair out of her face and sighed, looking to her friend to explain the debacle. "I picked that cute bathing suit you know? The pink one with the white flowers on it?" Gene nodded, allowing her to continue, and couldn't help but grin at Rogue who was looking as if she was ready to run out of the room. "Well, that was the easy choice regarding my outfit. I just don't know what to wear over it! I want to go with the jean mini skirt, but I don't know what top." Kitty pouted comically as she gestured to the mountain of shirts on her bed.

Gene laughed and shook her head at her friend. "Kitty, it's a pool party. You're not going to be wearing a shirt for the majority of it. Just pick one."

"That's what Ah've been sayin'!" Rogue exclaimed, looking gratefully at her sane friend.

Kitty, ignoring the logic and outbursts her friends were making, continued pouting as she studied the bed full of shirts as if she would have a sudden epiphany. After a good minute of staring, Kitty picked up a white shirt with a red rose on the front. "This one's perfect!"

"That's the first one ya tried on!" Rogue shouted at her friend. Kitty shrugged and Rogue, dispite herself, couldn't help but laugh.

"Awesome, now let's get going," Gene said laughing. Kitty quickly got changed, slipping on heeled sandals, before grabbing her backpack (filled with her cell, iPod, wallet, house keys, and communicator), and following Gene towards the door of the room.

"Hey, Gene!" Gene stopped to stare at Rogue. "Remy said he was gonna talk to ya later about somethin'."

"Oh, thanks Rogue. You know, you can come with us to the pool party, right?" Gene offered.

Rogue waved her hand. "Sorry sugah Ah can't. Sun's murder on ma skin. Plus, Ah've got a date with Swamprat later today and he'd start complainin' if Ah was late."

Gene nodded. "That sounds like Remy."

"Still, if you guys change your mind totally hit us up! We'll give you the directions!" Kitty said enthusiastically. Rogue just waved off-handedly as she reached for a magazine. The two girls took that as their cue to leave and they walked out of the room.

As the two girls walked down the hall, the sound of skateboards approached. "Hey Kitty! Gene!" The girls turned and saw Evan skating up to them before hopping off and grabbing his board, opting to walk beside them. "Where you girls headed?"

"Pool party at one of our college friends houses. Wanna come? They're cool with mutants," Kitty offered.

Evan shook his head. "Nah, thanks though. I gotta help Auntie Ororo on a mission later so I can't. But I hear Kurt, Amara, Bobby, and Jubilee already headed out that way."

"Really? Thanks for the heads up, Evan! And do me a favor, if you see Remy can you tell him where I'm headed? Don't want him to get worried about me."

Evan nodded before skating away. "Sure thing Gene! See you guys later!"

Kitty and Gene continued their way towards the door, starting down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the two girls, was Piotr Rasputin. He was wearing a black t-shirt that looked tight on his torso and a pair of fitting jeans, though it was a safe bet that any clothing item looked a bit snug on the large Russian. He had been waiting for the two girls a little bit more than twenty minutes. Still, it was worth it if he got to see his girlfriend and one of his best friends.

Kitty smiled and ran down the rest of the way to hug her boyfriend, whom she hadn't seen in two days due to a mission. "Hey Peter!"

"Hello Katya. You look beautiful," Piotr said pushing a strand of hair out of Kitty's face.

"Ugh, get a room you two," Gene said jokingly as she scooped up her hair into a high ponytail, and adjusting the backpack she had on. "I get enough of that stuff with Rogue and Remy." Kitty stuck her tongue out playfully at her friend and started laughing. Piotr smiled.

"Do you both have your bags?" He asked, making sure they had everything.

"Yeah, we packed before we got dressed," Kitty answered. "So let's go!"

"Hold it there. Where do you three think you're going?"

The three mutants all froze and turned around slowly towards the source of the gruff voice they all knew by heart. Logan slowly made his way down the stairs, a scowl on his face and arms crossed across his chest. He raised an eyebrow and looked towards the two girls and Piotr. "Where are we going, hm? Half-Pint? Tin-Man? Red?" Kitty and Piotr shifted, hoping not to incur the wrath of Wolverine, but Gene just smiled.

"We're heading off to a pool party with some of our friends from college," Gene answered. "Wanna come? Should be fun, and their all cool with mutants."

Gene, unlike most of the other mutants in the Xavier Institute, had no problems talking to, or yelling at, a pissed off Logan. She, for some strange reason, had no fear or the feral man, and actually had come to think of her as a father figure, as did Kitty and even Rogue. Some say that Gene got her bold, 'don't fear no one' attitude from her brother, but she had a sarcastic and innocently evil attitude all her own. She gave Logan a smile in hopes that he would let them go.

"No I don't wanna go, and you all shouldn't be going either," Logan stated. The three all started complaining but Logan held up a hand to silence them. "But, lucky for you Xavier and Ororo already gave the okay for you guys to head out, but you will all by here by 9:30."

"Aw, why so early?" Kitty complained.

Logan raised an eyebrow and Kitty's complaining ceased.

"Tin-Man, get your bike and take Kitty with you, I'll take Gene," Logan ordered as he started walking out the door. "Professor cancelled Danger Room sessions for the day because he Storm, Hank, Jean and Cyclops are going on a mission with some of the X-Kids. " The three others merely shrugged and followed after, happy that they at least got to go out.

Logan opened the garage door and wondered when he had gotten so soft. There were times when he would've just sent the trio upstairs to their room, regardless of what anyone had said. It might have been due to the fact that after the battle just a few months ago, everyone was closer. Everyone became more family like, and he had somehow taken to being the father figure to the two girls who wanted to leave. Truth be told, he would be putty in their hands if they ever realized that he saw them as his own daughters.

"Helmet," Logan said tossing a helmet over to Gene as soon as he had gotten over to his motorcycle. He looked over at made sure that Kitty had one on as well as she hopped onto the back of Piotr's motorcycle, holding on to the large Russian. Piotr didn't have, or need, a helmet on and neither did Logan.

Gene hopped onto the back of Logan's motorcycle and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Alright Tin-Man, you follow me. Red, give me directions."

With that the four took off, heading out of the property the Institute owned, and onto the highway. They were driving for around ten minutes before he realized there was no one at all on the highway, which Logan felt was very odd. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his body tensed as he heard three sets of tires speeding up behind them.

Sirens started to wail, that bothered the primal man's sensitive ears. "Hey Logan, there are cops on us!" Kitty called out. Logan didn't need to look back to know she was right, but did anyway. He growled at what he saw. Three black SUV's with red and blue lights flashing in the dashboard. The windows were tinted so he couldn't look through. His thoughts immediately flashed to all of the anti-mutant agencies there were, and a recent string of attacks on mutants that he had overheard Ororo and Hank talking about over breakfast.

"Those don't look like police cars I've ever seen! And why three? We're not speeding!" Gene pointed out.

"Peter!" Logan shouted.

Piotr shared a look with Logan and nodded, both understanding each other. The two men picked up their pace and sped faster down the stretch of road, hoping to outrun their pursuers. The two girls held on tighter, not wanting to fly off of the back of the motorcycles.

The SUV's sped up, closing the gap between the motorcycles. One of the SUV's drove ahead of the mutants and hit the brakes, spinning and effectively blocking their path. Logan and Piotr slammed on the brakes and swerved to a stop, now surrounded by the three SUV's. Logan immediately pulled Gene off of the bike and jumped off himself, tensing to get ready for a fight. Piotr grabbed Kitty and placed her behind him, hoping to protect her from whatever the threat was.

The doors to the vehicles opened at once and men in suits all stepped out, lead by a man that oozed nonchalance and confidence. He pulled off his sunglasses and looked towards the four people in the street. "Hello all, I'm here looking for two people. One Katherine Anne Pryde, and a Genevieve Renee?"

Kitty and Genevieve both pulled off their helmets to get a better look at the person. Kitty placed the face first and smiled. "Mr. Stark! What are you doing here?"

"You know him?" Logan questioned in shock as he still studied the group, ready to react at a moments notice.

Kitty nodded a put a hand on Logan's shoulder and nodding to Piotr that it was okay. "Yeah, this is Tony Stark. He came to visit us at MIT for a lecture on inventing and the different processes used in engineering."

"Ah, so you remembered me?" Tony said, obviously pleased.

Gene smirked a bit. "And it seems that you've remembered us, I take it? So, care to explain what it is that you're doing here?"

"I have a job that is in your area of expertise. And I figured that I would get you two lovely ladies to help me."

Logan growled. "Get someone else to do it. You aren't taking them."

"It's a matter of national security," Tony remarked without hesitation. He looked seriously at the feral man. "We need them. They are the most brilliant girls in their field and they're barely twenty. We can't get anyone else."

Piotr looked from the group of men, to Kitty, to Gene, then back to Kitty. "Then allow us to go with them."

Tony shook his head. "Couldn't possibly. It's a classified environment."

"Tough, bub. We're a package deal. If they go, we go," Logan threatened. Xavier was not gonna be happy about their whole situation (neither would Remy, now that he thought about it...), but no way in hell was he going to let the girls go off to some place he didn't know about, with people he didn't know, to do a job having to do with who knows what. And if they wanted to take the girls by force then let them try. Logan was hoping for an opportunity to fight anyways.

Tony was about to decline before he paused and thought about it. Bringing the two men, whom he knew nothing about, was bound to be disastrous. For one, the loud one seemed to have anger issues, and the taller foreign one seemed to give a death glare to anyone who so much as looked at Kitty. But then again, bringing them aboard would cause Fury to have an aneurism, and was bound to make things fun or, at the very least, interesting. So, despite his initial feeling of doubt as to whether he should give in, Tony Stark did what he did best. Disregarding all rules and regulations.

"Alright, follow me. Anyone up for burgers?"

* * *

On a normal occasion, Bruce would think two girls Tony brought back, running around his lab squealing would be a bad thing. After all, inexperienced girls running around in a lab full of millions of dollars in expensive equipment was bound to end in disaster. Especially if Tony brought them. But, when said girls were squealing due to the fact that the lab equipment was beautiful and that there were a bunch of experiments that could be done, and wondering how the computer systems worked, Bruce realized this wasn't a normal occasion.

"Bruce!" Tony exclaimed happily as he took a bite of his burger. Bruce noticed a man who looked like he wanted to kill something (Bruce sympathized) and the other looked slightly awkward. As if he didn't know if he should be defensive or relaxed. Again Bruce could sympathize with the large man.

"Allow me to introduce you to Logan and Pio… Pie… Peter," Tony introduced, giving up on pronouncing the Russians name.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "And these are the people you've called in to help?"

"Not exactly…" Tony spoke excitedly. "Think of them as body guards of sort. Now, the geniuses that I've brought in are right over there."

Bruce looked over where Tony was pointing and he fought off the urge to do a double take. Where Tony was pointing were the two girls, both looking incredibly beautiful and incredibly young, poking and going through numerous drawers and instruments. "You're kidding."

Tony smiled. "Nope! Completely serious! Girls, come over here and meet the famous Dr. Banner."

Almost immediately the rummaging of drawers stopped and the two girls zoomed over to stand in front of Bruce. The looked up at him with wide, excited eyes, grins on their faces. "Bruce, this is Katherine Anne Pryde, call her Kitty, she hates her full name, and Genevieve Renee, call her Gene because it's not as long and makes things easier. Girls, this is Dr. Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk."

The girls immediately started talking, introducing themselves, gushing about he was one of the best scientists in his field, asking him if he's made any headway on controlling the Hulk, asking if he was doing any new experiments. Inquisitive, didn't even begin to describe the two girls in front of him. Instead of trying to answer all of their questions he simply smiled. "Hi there…which one of you is which exactly?"

"Ooh, I'm Kitty!" One with her hair down stated.

"And I'm Gene!" The other answered.

Bruce smiled at the enthusiasm. "Well, it's very nice to meet you both. How exactly do you know Mr. Stark exactly?"

"He came and spoke at a lecture at our college," Gene explained simply.

"How old are you both?"

"Nineteen turning twenty."

Bruce nodded. "Ah…and you girls are computer whiz's?" They both nodded. "And you think you can fix our computer problem?" Kitty smirked.

"Watch us."

* * *

**A/N: So what did you think? Review please! If I get a lot of reviews I'll know to continue on with this story, and if not I may scrap it!**


	2. Interrogations

A/N: Hey all, I hope you liked last chapter! Thanks for your nice comments! The rest of the Avengers are going to be more prevalent from now on, I just kinda had to set the tone for everything! Anyway, this chapter the rest of the team, and Nick Fury, meet the computer analysts. And to say that everyone is as pleased as Tony, well… it would be lying. And just FYI my tonsils were removed, so if there are any mistakes I apologize, the pain meds are taking it's toll.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men only my OC.

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Avengers: Rise of Alliance

Chapter 2: Interrogations

Clint was getting a bit annoyed. Fury had been on his ass to find out where Tony was seeing as he hadn't checked in since he had left to find the people to help with the computer problem. Steve had smartly gone to one of the training rooms for some exercise, along with Thor. And since Natasha had somehow disappeared (he internally cursed the redhead) and Bruce was in his lab, Fury's… well fury... was directed at him.

Clint started searching for Banner, hoping the scientist had heard from Stark. If he was lucky, he would even get an estimate of time to give to Fury so he would shut his yap. With that in mind, Clint quickly made his way to Banner's lab, hoping to either find an answer, or hide out. Either one would do nicely.

"Hey Banner, you got any idea where-" Clint cut himself off as he looked inside the lab.

It wasn't Bruce that Clint's laid eyes on, but someone else. She was a beautiful girl, perched atop of a desk, one foot tucked underneath herself as the other hung loosely off the desk. He saw toe rings that he thought to be very sexy, peeking out from a pair of ripped jeans. Her shirt was cut off at the rib cage, showing her perfectly tanned and toned stomach. Her beautiful face was peering intently at one of those touch screen computer pads that Tony and Bruce liked to use so much, her red bangs threatening to fall into her eyes. At the sound of him entering the room, the girl looked up and her blue eyes met his and he could feel himself get lost in their depth.

"Your not Banner…" Was the only intelligent thing Clint could manage.

The girl smiled a bit in amusement and seemed ready to answer before another voice cut her off. "Brilliant observation Legolas, you ought to be a detective," Tony spoke up, coming out from the backroom with Bruce, and three other people Clint didn't recognize. Though Clint didn't dwell on them. He instead focused on the billionaire playboy who wasn't even said to be back yet.

"How long have you been here?" Clint asked in annoyance.

Tony frowned. "I'm not going to tell you my age."

"Cut the crap Tony, you know what I'm talking about!"

Tony tisked. "Temper, temper. And I thought Bruce here had anger problems. I've been here for a bit over twenty minutes."

Clint's eyebrow twitched. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of Fury breathing down his neck and riding his ass, that Clint could've used to throw Tony to the wolves. Taking in a deep breath so he didn't shoot the billionaire (which he was seriously considering) he finally paid attention to the group of people whom he had never met before. "Who are they?" Clint asked, suspicion lacing his tone.

"Our analysts," Bruce spoke up, enthusiastically. After spending time with the two girls he soon realized they were geniuses, much like himself and Tony, and the two pairs of geniuses formed a science loving quartet, that got along famously.

Tony nodded. "This is Logan, Peter, Kitty, and Gene. Guys, this is Legolas."

"Ignore him. The name is Clint. Clint Barton," Clint answered, glaring at Tony, who simply smirked. He walked over to shake hands with Logan and Peter, smiling. "It's great that you guys can come out and help us with-"

"Don't thank us," Peter spoke up. "We are… as you say? The 'body guards'."

Clint frowned. "Body guards? Then who are…" Clint, seeing where they were going, whirled around and stared at the two girls in confusion. Kitty and Gene both smiled and nodded, as if they had read his mind. "You two?"

"We seem to be getting that quite a bit today, but we're the analysts," Kitty said cheerfully.

Logan noticed Clint about to open his mouth and cut him off. "Yes, they look young, they're turning twenty, but they're already in their final year in college. Yes, they're geniuses. And yes they know what they're doing."

Clint shrugged. It answered pretty much all of his questions. Plus, he got to know that the girl, Gene, was above the age of eighteen. And she wasn't that much younger than his own twenty-seven year old self. Perfectly legal. But back to the matter at hand, he looked around at the group and glared at Tony once again. "Let's go rich boy, Fury wanted to see you and our little helpers as soon as you got here, so he's been pitching a fit ever since you left. I have half a mind to kick your ass for him screaming at me while you were gone."

"Well, forgive me for taking initiative and trying to get our problems solved," Tony retorted. He looked around at the two girls and smiled. "Come my darlings, we must meet the pirate. Bruce, you could stay here with Logan and-"

"No. Where they go, we go," Logan said again, a growl in his voice.

Clint raised an eyebrow at the aggressive comment, almost as if Logan promised pain if they didn't let him go with the girls. The archer internally wondered if Tony even bothered to run a background check on the people he brought in, but said nothing of it at the moment. He would wait til he could corner him, then ask. Maybe even a bit of revenge. Possibly using Tony as target practice.

"Alright, follow me everyone," Bruce spoke up, wanting to have everyone as calm as possible. The last time tempers flared in his lab… well… he and Natasha ended up out the window, with him hulked out and chasing after her. Not really something he wanted to do again only this time with innocent people in the lab.

Tony, Kitty, and Peter followed Bruce out without hesitation. Clint paused at the door, waiting for Logan and Gene to exit. Though if he was being honest, he only was waiting for Gene to get to know the girl. Logan waited as Gene hopped off the desk, bending down to feel around for her flip-flops that she had accidentally kicked under the desk in the process of jumping down. After a few seconds of searching she grabbed both of her shoes and pulled them on while walking, and grabbing a Burger King bag that was next to her.

"After you," Clint said motioning for Gene to exit before him. She smiled and looked away, exiting. Logan, who walked out right after her, didn't bother hiding the glare he was sending towards the archer. Clint glared back, not at all fazed as the two men walked into the hallway, trailing behind the group.

* * *

Nick Fury wasn't the most calm person. Or compassionate. Or forgiving. Or happy. Or really any positive emotion or trait in general when he was on the job, which was essentially 24/7. So when Clint walked into the main control room with Tony, Bruce, and four people in tow (for people that he hadn't met, let alone cleared to be on the Helicarrier and one of which dared to bring food with her) it was a safe bet to say he was a notch above upset.

He was bordering on livid.

"Stark, what the hell do you think you are doing bring these civilians aboard my ship without my authorization?" Fury roared.

Tony merely shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I was solving our computer problem."

Fury glared, clearly not amused. "We have protocols, Stark! We run background checks on anyone who gets on this ship! Did you even do that?"

"Well… no… but I know the two girls from that college lecture, and the guys seemed pretty nice."

Clint was almost positive that Fury had popped a blood vessel at that point in time, but he didn't bother speaking up. He stayed at his position leaning against the wall as he watched Fury hand out a verbal lashing (though he was sure Fury was hoping to get a few physical blows in too) to Tony. Before Fury's anger escalated further, Bruce came to the rescue.

"Tony's intentions were only for the best, and it was necessary to bring them aboard as quickly as possible," Bruce rationalized.

Fury turned his attention to the scientist, glaring. He was about to start screaming but held his tongue. He would not be responsible for unleashing the Hulk again. No one wanted to get Bruce angry. He looked at the civilians, pausing to glare at Gene who had started to eat a French Fry, and frowning as he looked at Logan. He recognized his face…

Just as realization hit him, he turned towards Clint and looked about ready to maim each one of the Avengers in front of him. "Get them all down to interrogation rooms. Two per, separate the analysts from the 'body guards'. Get Agent Romanoff. You both know what to do. I'll send Agent Hill with files that I think you will find interesting."

* * *

Natasha studied the pair of people carefully through the one way mirror.

It had only been five minutes earlier that Bruce and Tony had been sent out to collect her. She had been with Steve sparring, and Thor laughing loudly on the sidelines whenever Natasha knocked the super soldier on his ass. Which happened quite a few times. She enjoyed the time she got to spend with Cap. Since the invasion in New York she and Steve had been hanging out more often and she found that she looked forward the time they spent together. Unlike with some of the other Avengers members.

Thor, while sweet and childlike, tended to be loud and break things accidentally, Tony she wanted to shoot in the face sometimes, and Bruce she was okay with, but still felt slight fear towards. The only other person she felt comfortable with was Clint, but he was like her older brother. She had recently started contemplating what her feelings toward Steve meant, but she didn't put too much thought into it. She needed to focus on the here and now, not on some feelings.

And in the here and now, she and Clint were getting ready to interrogate the four civilians onboard their ship. She stared into the interrogation room and started pacing a bit, her eyes never leaving the two men seated just beyond the glass.

"Do we have any backgrounds on any of them?" She asked.

Bruce nodded and handed her a file. "Agent Hill just brought these down."

Natasha took the file, taking her attention off the men in the room to skim the papers she had just been given. As she continued reading she arched an eyebrow, but her face gave away nothing.

"What does it say?" Steve asked curiously, trying to peek over her shoulder.

"Patience Steve, you'll find out," Natasha spoke in a teasing tone before handing the file over to Clint. Steve pouted, but the smile the assassin gave him made him smile in return.

The archer read it and pursed his lips together, before both his eyebrows raised. "Huh… so you think…?" He asked gesturing to the males in the room and vaguely towards the other room where the girls were located.

"It's possible."

Tony pouted. "I feel so out of the loop."

"Because you're the idiot who brought them here without doing a proper background check. If you want to make yourself useful, go Google the two girls or something," Natasha waved him off.

"What is this 'Google' you speak of?" Thor asked in confusion. Steve had a similar look of confusion on his face as well.

Clint smiled. "Tony will explain it to you while we're interrogating, have fun." As soon as the words were out of his mouth he gave Natasha a small nudge and the two entered the room. Logan and Piotr looked up immediately and hushed their conversation as soon as the two Agents walked in.

"Hello there gentlemen," Natasha said sweetly. Clint felt the need to roll his eyes but he restrained himself. The act was already beginning it seemed for Natasha. "This is Agent Barton and my name is Agent Romanoff."

"Romanoff?" Piotr questioned, narrowing his eyes a bit. "Russian?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow noticing his accent. "Da."

Piotr grinned. "Piotr Rasputin," He spoke introducing himself.

"Ah, a fellow Russian I see. It's a pleasure, Piotr," Natasha smiled warmly. She then turned her charms onto Logan. "And I haven't gotten the pleasure of learning your name?"

"Logan."

"Well, do you have a last name, Logan?"

"Nope."

Natasha nodded and pinched Clint's thigh under the table. It was signal the two had invented whenever they wanted the other to intervene. Clint hit her knee with his, showing he understood. They were gonna be playing good cop, bad cop, and he was the bad cop. Of course.

"Alright look, Tony royally screwed up by bringing you four onboard without checking you guys out. So if you boys step even a hair out of line I wont hesitate to shoot you both where you stand," Clint threatened, easily falling into the character. Natasha put a hand on Clint's arm.

"Please ignore him, he hasn't had his coffee yet," Natasha said throwing Clint a mock glare. "All we're gonna do is just get some information from you guys so we're know you're no threat. Now, why don't we start with you?" She asked looking at Piotr.

Logan shook his head. "No, you got any questions you ask me. And I want to see the girls. Where are they?"

"Don't worry about them, we'll deal with them soon," Clint spoke up. That comment elicited a glare from both Piotr and Logan.

Natasha tried a different approach, switching from English to Russian. "Piotr, I just have a few questions for you, and I assure you that we wont harm the girls. We're just going to talk with them."

Piotr frowned for a second. If it got his girlfriend and Gene out of the line of fire, then he would have to do it. But then again Logan would maim him if he told anything about being mutants. But on the other hand, Remy would maim him if his sister was harmed in any way, shape, or form. "You will leave Katya and Gene alone?" He finally replied in Russian.

"Don't talk to her, Peter," Logan warned.

"Yes, they will be perfectly safe. Now, just tell me a little bit about you guys. Where did you all meet?" Natasha continued on in Russian.

Clint rolled his eyes and rested his chin on his fist. "There she goes again." He looked over at Logan. "You feel like talking? Cause they'll continue on like that for a bit." Logan just glared. "That's fine too."

"In school. We went to the same high school for a year," Piotr responded. "I'm best friends with Gene's older brother, which is how I met her, and Gene was best friends with Katya."

"Good, good, and was Logan your teacher?" Natasha asked.

Logan frowned. "English, Peter, English," Logan said after he heard his name.

Piotr nodded switching back to English because frankly he didn't know how Logan wanted him to respond to that specific question. "No, Logan was not my teacher in high school. I… met him in a bar."

"Kid got drunk and I took him home. We became friends when I didn't get him in trouble for underage drinking," Logan added on immediately.

Natasha sighed seeing as she had lost the conversation with Piotr. If it was just Piotr then she would be able to manipulate him easily into getting the truth. He seemed innocent enough to fall prey to her games. Hell, he had even given up the fact that Gene had an older brother- which she stored mentally away for later. But with Logan coaching Piotr on what to say, she would have to resort to blackmail.

"Clint, go start with the girls, I'll be in there in just a minute."

Clint frowned but shrugged when he realized that Natasha had motioned to her ear slightly. So they were using coms. "Whatever you say."

As soon as Clint was out the door, Natasha's façade dropped. With people like Logan she often had to do things a little different. Take a more direct approach. She pulled out the file and pushed it towards Logan.

"What's this?" Logan asked.

"A file."

"I thought your database wasn't working?" Logan challenged.

Natasha smirked. "We still have filing cabinets. Now, if we can kindly cut to the chase, Wolverine?" Logan's eyes shot up to glare at Natasha as Piotr looked stunned. "Yes, you've been on our watch list for quite some time now. You and the other mutants at the Xavier Institute. Now, would you care to tell me the truth about where you all met, or are you going to continue to lie to me?"

* * *

"Gene, are you going to share?" Kitty pouted as she watched her friend eat her burger and fries. Gene sighed before pushing the remainder of her fries over to her friend who smiled. She knew Kitty wouldn't even dare touch the burger, so giving up her fries was the only option. Gene continued eating her burger, frowning a bit.

"When are we going to get out of here?" She questioned, looking towards Kitty.

Kitty shrugged munching on a fry. "Not sure, but if they want their computer problem fixed, they can't expect us to do it from in here."

The door opened and the girls quieted looking up. Kitty frowned seeing as it wasn't Piotr and Logan entering like she had hoped. Gene, on the other hand, perked up seeing the attractive archer walking in. One trait she _did_ learn from Remy was his way with the opposite sex. "Hello there ladies. I'm here to get a bit of information from you just to make sure you are who you say you are, and to get to know you a bit."

"If you wanted to get to know us, you could've just asked," Gene said a sly grin on her face. "It's not like we would've resisted."

Clint smiled. "I'm sure you wouldn't have."

Kitty rolled her eyes and faked a gag. "Oh god, is this what you go through with me and Peter?"

"Oh, all this and more, my dear," Gene responded sarcastically.

Clint chuckled a bit before clearing his throat. "How about we get started? Why don't we start by talking about your qualifications as analysts?"

"We both are going to MIT, senior year about to graduate. We've specialized in everything computer related and we can pretty much take apart any computer, and put it back together while making some improvements," Kitty explained, her eyes lighting up in pride.

"Very impressive. Already graduating college and your how old?" Clint questioned, feigning ignorance. Gene decided to call him out on it.

"You were there when Logan told you how old we were," She said frowning in confusion.

Clint snapped his fingers as if remembering. "Oh that's right… twenty?"

"Nineteen, turning twenty," Kitty corrected, catching the slip up the archer made. She turned to look at Gene. "Su yalp ot gniyrt si dneirfyob ruoy." (1)

"Taht thguac I haey,"(2) Gene replied speaking some weird language Clint couldn't understand. He frowned and cleared his throat.

"What was that?" He asked. The girls being able to talk in a language he couldn't was not a good thing. They could create cover stories just by talking and he wouldn't be any wiser to the fact. He would just have to get them to not talk to each other.

Kitty smiled brightly, covering up the fact that she and Gene were perfectly aware of Clint trying to see if they were a threat by more than likely interviewing Logan and Piotr at the same time that she and Gene were. If their stories matched up, then they would be golden. "Oh, sorry about that. It was just a language me and Gene made up while we roomed together in college. The other girls in our dorms were so nosy. Sometimes we'll just switch into it without realizing."

* * *

Natasha smirked to herself she had succeeded in getting Logan and Piotr to admit that they were indeed mutants, and did stay with Professor Xavier at the Institute (even going as far as explaining and demonstrating their abilities), but they were remaining adamant about saying that Kitty and Gene were normal humans. They claimed that the two girls were just pro-mutant activist, and had actually met at a rally.

"So where were you all going? You were all headed somewhere together. As if you all lived somewhere together. Like the Institute," Natasha accused.

Piotr answered first. "A pool party. Katya and Gene were invited to a pool party by some of the other activists at their college. They wished to go and invited me. We met up at the Institute, yes, but as we've said before they are not mutants."

"And you? Somehow I don't see you as the party type." Natasha questioned looking at Logan.

Logan snorted. "The kids wanted to go and invited me. I turned them down but had to drive Gene. Tin-Man and I only have motorcycles, and I wasn't going to let all three of them pile onto one bike."

Natasha pursed her lips before smiling. She had everything she needed to help Clint question the girls thoroughly, and if anything they said didn't match up with what Logan and Piotr said, then they could take further interrogation methods. "Wait here," Natasha ordered the two of them before walking out of the room. Only Steve and Tony were still in the viewing side of the interrogation room. "You two watch them," She ordered before walking out and heading across the hall to the next room.

"Those females are so tiny and fragile looking. Why do we question them so?" Thor questioned in confusion as he watched the interrogation go on with the girls.

Bruce, next to him, laughed. "I look tiny and fragile too."

"Excellent point."

Natasha walked up to the window and saw that one of the girls, Gene if her memory served, was eating a burger, while the other, which by default would be Kitty, was eating some fries. Natasha didn't like that. When someone was eating or chewing you can't accurately read their facial expression. But she couldn't do anything about it at the moment. "Ask them if they know that Logan is a mutant. Don't say anything about Piotr," Natasha ordered through the coms. She saw Clint's eyes look up towards the glass for the briefest of seconds, showing her that he was listening.

* * *

Clint studied the two girls in front of him carefully, though it was hard seeing as they were eating. It made his job harder, but he didn't want to make it known that there would be a far more intense interrogation session if they ended up lying. Fury was that much of a stickler for protocols when it had to do with the confidentiality and safety of the secrets the Helicarrier carried.

He shifted in his chair and folded his hands together. "Now, were you two girls aware of the fact that Logan is a mutant?"

"Yes."

Clint looked surprised at their quick response. The two looked completely at ease, and not at all surprised by the fact that Clint had brought that up. On the inside, however, both girls were worried. The first thing that Logan had always taught them was to make sure you never get caught as a mutant. He had taught them, that even if one of their friends is made, to make up excuses, any excuse, to make sure you weren't caught. He knew just how bad hatred towards mutants were, even in government agencies, and wanted to make sure any of the X-Kids were never caught. So, Gene and Kitty began their act.

"But people aren't as… accepting as we are," Kitty added on.

"How so?" Clint asked.

"We're pro-mutant activists. We don't discriminate against mutants, and we live happily with them. Hey, I'm even dating one, but there are others who are much crueler," Kitty explained, frowning as she talked about the cruelty.

"Peter is a mutant?" Clint asked, feigning confusion.

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, I call him my knight in shining armor!"

"Everyone else just calls him Tin-Man," Gene snickered as Kitty glared at her playfully.

"_Ask where they were going," _Natasha ordered again.

"Where exactly were you girls going when Mr. Stark picked you up?"

Gene answered that time. "A pool party at a friends house. She also was a pro-mutant activist, so we were gonna hang out and have fun."

"And why was Logan with you?"

Kitty shrugged. "We needed another person to take Gene. Peter only has a motorcycle and me and Gene don't have anything to drive. Logan was the only one available."

"Do you have a pen?" Gene questioned randomly.

Clint, confused at the question, merely pulled out a pen and handed it to the girl. She wrote down a phone number on the napkin next to her and handed it to the archer. "What's this?" He questioned.

"That's a phone number where you can call our friend, Marie. She was the one having the pool party, and I understand in situations like these you need to cover all your bases." Gene sat back, internally smirking in satisfaction at the fact that she had written down Rogue's number. She would be quick to back the girls up, especially if Remy was with her. Plus is she didn't get the chance to call Remy, if they actually did call Rogue, it would be perfect for them to find out what was going on without blowing their cover.

Clint smirked. "Maybe you should write your phone number down too… for professional purposes of course."

Gene blushed a bit and smirked. "Oh I'm sure."

"_They seem harmless enough. We'll just get extra security on the two mutants to make sure they don't try anything funny. The two girls shouldn't pose much of a problem though. Get that number to Agent Hill and ask any other questions you think are necessary or wrap it up. I'm gonna steal a laptop from Tony. Something's bothering me,"_ Natasha informed.

"Well, thank you girls, that's all that I needed to know. Why don't I introduce you both to the rest of the team?"


	3. Superhero Bonding Time

A/N: Well, now that the interrogations are done the mutants are going to be introduced to the rest of the Avengers! Though, the Avengers only know that two of the mutants are actually that! What will happen when the secret comes out that Kitty and Gene are actually Shadowcat and Marvel Girl? And what is going to happen when Xavier and the others at the Institute realize that Logan, Piotr, Kitty, and Gene are gone? That, my dears, you will find out in the next chapter!

And apology to everyone for not including the translations at the bottom of the last chapter for Kitty and Gene's little conversations. It's pretty much them speaking backwards with the sentence backwards as well!

(1) Kitty: "You're boyfriend is trying to play us."

(2) Gene: "Yeah, I caught that."

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or X-Men, only my OC.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliance

Chapter 3: Superhero Bonding Time

"Oh my god, I've never felt so short in my life…" Kitty spoke completely overwhelmed. Gene could only nod as the two girls looked up to stare into the face of the tall Asgardian known as Thor. Even though Piotr was quite tall- in his metal form reaching a huge 7 ft- Thor was still taller than Piotr was on a regular basis. And for the two girls who normally only reached shoulder level for Piotr, reaching chest level with Thor made them feel incredibly short. It also didn't help that everyone of the Avengers- Steve a good six inches taller than them, Tony a bit taller than Steve, Clint at Tony's height, Bruce a bit shorter than Steve, and Natasha a bit shorter than Bruce- were taller than them making the two girls look shorter.

"That's because you are short," Logan retorted.

Thor smiled at the girls, looking down to see their faces. "Hello tiny Midgardians."

"Oh my god even his voice makes me feel small," Gene spoke in awe.

"Trust me, you get used to it," Bruce assured.

Clint laughed. "Besides, you girls are fun sized."

Piotr looked at Steve in curiosity. "Is it true that you were frozen in ice?"

"Yeah, it's kinda a long story including a psychotic Nazi, a few missiles, and a huge plane," Steve answered sheepishly.

"Fascinating. My younger sister Illyana loves reading your comic books. She finds it very entertaining," Piotr explained. Striking up a conversation with the Star Spangled man with Natasha listening in, translating some words for Steve that Piotr didn't know how to say in English.

Logan had struck up a conversation with Thor after asking were he could get a drink. That immediately got the Asgardian talking about the finest ale and wine back on Asgard. Tony jumped in soon after talking about the best places to go in the city, and planning an outing for everyone, whether they wanted to go or not. Kitty was talking with Bruce about some of his past experiments, and what it was like being the Hulk, asking if he remembered anything or could control it and Clint was talking with Gene, subtly flirting to test the waters while Gene did the same.

Just as everyone was starting to enjoy the others company, Agent Hill walked through the meeting room they were all grouped in. "Director Fury wants Miss Pryde, and Miss Renee to get to work as soon as possible. Banner and Stark, you're to assist them in any way possible. The rest of you are to show Logan and Mr. Rasputin to their rooms and then get out of the way of those working to fix our systems."

Tony sighed as everyone stopped the conversations they were in. "Yes, Agent Kill-Joy."

* * *

"So, any luck yet?" Tony asked, annoyingly for the umpteenth time. Kitty and Gene merely ignored him. Spending so long in the Institute with some of the younger kids (namely Bobby) helped with their threshold for annoyances. Bruce, just got used to Tony over time and ignored him too. Only when Tony started peeking over Kitty's shoulder did she answer.

"I'm making progress, but that's because I'm working on getting JARVIS back up and running. Some of his systems were corrupted so I'm trying to fix them manually, going through all of his systems to make sure they're working properly, and beefing up your security so it doesn't happen again," Kitty answered him as she sat at the desk she was working on. Seeing as JARVIS wasn't hooked up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. systems, she was working from Tony's laptop. "I should be done within… say six hours or so? Give or take depending on food and bathroom breaks. Then I'll jump right on over to help Gene with S.H.I.E.L.D. servers."

Tony checked his watch and saw that it was already five in the afternoon. Six hours was a lot of tedious work to do on a computer, but he was confident that Kitty would get it done before the night was over. He then turned his attention towards Gene. "And you?"

"I'm not having as much success as Kitty, unfortunately. You can all use the computers for minor things. Solitaire, Galaga, making word documents, etc. But if you want to go and look for any sort of files, classified or not, you end up blocked. Firewall, encryptions, the works," Gene answered pulling her hair down from it's pony tail and shaking it out. "It's going to take me a while to crack it, but I'm also looking for any backdoors I can use. Hopefully the hard drive didn't get wiped or my work doubles and you guys are screwed for quite some time. Give me a day or so and I'll find a way in to see what got screwed up and what the problem is."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "A day?"

"Give or take depending on food and bathroom breaks," Kitty piped up, for her friend.

"You can do it all in a day?"

Gene shrugged. "We're top of our class."

"Impressive."

* * *

"Why the hell do we gotta have a curfew?" Logan grumbled out as he tossed his bag into the room he was to be sharing with Piotr. Natasha answered without hesitation.

"Protocol. It happens with any new person on the ship."

"Bull," Logan retorted. "It's because we're mutants."

"Well, yes. Look, I don't like sugarcoating things, but since we don't know you all personally, anyone who can pose a threat we tend to monitor more carefully."

Steve gave a reassuring smile over her shoulder as the other men waited in the hall. "But we don't really care that if your mutant or not. Just don't end up trying to betray or kill one of us, then we're good."

"We can assure you we will not betray you all," Piotr assured.

Natasha nodded. "Peachy, but we still have to take precautions. But other than that, you guys are free to walk around and have fun just like the rest of us."

"I wish to see how you... mutants?" Thor asked looking towards Natasha for confirmation that he used the correct word. At her nod, Thor continued on happily. "How you mutants do in combat situations."

"In other words, Thor wants a spar," Clint simplified for the Asgardian. As soon as Clint said that Thor nodded eagerly, like a large child. It was both weird and adorable how the large blonde God of Thunder could be so childlike and innocent when he can take out half an alien army, and bench press a bus.

Logan raised an eyebrow. Going toe to toe with the God of Thunder? Well, what the hell. He wouldn't have gotten his Danger Room session for the day, so a go around with Thor would be a good exercise. Besides, it would be fun having the Tin-Man go up against someone that could actually take him on. Logan, with a feral smile on his face, nodded. "Alright bub. Show us what you got."

* * *

Tony didn't expect to see the epic showdown unfolding before his eyes when he went to go get the girls and Bruce dinner. He had just been upstairs in the labs with the trio of geniuses, when he had gotten the urge to eat some food. Figuring his companions would be hungry too, Tony offered to go get dinner for the others. He tried to memorize the exact order he had gotten. Two slices of pizza with a Sprite for Kitty... or was it a Coke? Tony skipped past that and continued on his mental checklist menu. A chicken salad and bottle of water for Bruce, and a bowl of chili (as spicy as possible) along with a... Coke for Gene? It sounded right... or close enough at least.

He had started heading towards the kitchen when the ground rumbling and cheers had distracted him. His curiosity had been peeked, so he headed off towards the sound, soon finding his way to the gym. As soon as he peeked in he had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit in the face by a flying Super Soldier. "What the hell?" Tony shouted towards Steve who was pushing himself off of the ground and rolling his neck.

"Sparring with the mutants," Steve answered before rushing back into the room. Tony tried looking back into the room and saw Logan get hit in the face by Thor's hammer and fly back into the wall, only for the Asgardian to get tackled to the ground by a 7 ft tall, metal, Piotr. Thoroughly intrigued by the fight before him, Tony ventured into the room and went to go sit by Clint, and Natasha.

"What's going on here?" He asked looking at a pile of money on the bench and Logan who had launched himself back at Thor, claws extended.

"Thor offered a spar, and it turned into a competition. Mutants vs. Avengers. Any bets?" Clint asked.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Who did you guys place your money on?"

"Mutants. I'm going with the underdogs," Clint spoke up.

Natasha didn't take her eyes off of the match. "Tie."

"Give me a hundred on Avengers," Tony stated, slapping down the hundred from his wallet and turning his attention to the match in front of him. Thor's hammer had fallen out of his hands and was now in a hand-to-hand fight with Piotr. In his metal form, Piotr was able to take as well as deal some pretty powerful blows, but the God of Thunder was no lightweight. The sound of metal scrapping metal alerted the others that Logan had unsheathed his claws and was trying to hack at the Super Soldier, but Steve was ready to defend using his shield, sneaking in a couple of blows when he had the opportunity.

The two pairs of fighters seemed to be in a stalemate when Agent Hill walked in. She surveyed the area and frowned. "Don't you think we can find a better use of our time, people? Rodgers, Agent Barton, and Agent Romanoff, Director Fury wants to speak with you."

The group collectively sighed before dispersing. Natasha swiped the cash from in between herself, Clint, and Tony, pointing out that it was a stalemate, before walking out with Clint and Steve behind her. Steve called out to Logan that it was a good match before disappearing around the corner with Agent Hill. That only left Thor, Logan, Piotr, and Tony. Thor looked like a happy child. "You Midgardian mutants are very skilled! It's so exciting to meet Midgardian's that can match Asgardian skill! You both are skilled warriors indeed."

Piotr smiled and nodded, dropping his metal form. "If you wish to see warriors, you may want to test your skills with Katya or Gene in hand-to-hand combat."

Thor's eyebrows shot up before a delighted smile graced the blonde God's face. "The tiny females are skilled fighters?"

"Yeah, the girls took a few years of martial arts," Logan spoke up giving Piotr a look that clearly told him to shut up about anything having to do with the girls. Piotr frowned and shrugged, momentarily forgetting about the fact that the girls were supposed to remain as low under the radar as possible.

Tony, hearing about the girls, flinched realizing he had promised to go get them and Bruce dinner. Looking at the three men in the room, he clapped his hands to get their attention. "Uh... how about you gents join me in getting dinner for the girls and Dr. Banner?"

* * *

Bruce Banner could only sit back and watch as Kitty and Gene- waiting for something to finish loading- were dancing around the lab to _Old Time Rock n' Roll,_ air guitar and all. Kitty was currently up on Tony's desk looking as if she was doing an air guitar solo while Gene was running around the room as if she was drumming, headbanging and all. Bruce looked on in amusement at the two girls, and honestly thought he would bust a gut when the door to the lab opened just as Gene slid on her knees towards the door rocking the air guitar again.

"Well... this looks fun."

Kitty and Gene both froze and looked up at the four men in the doorway. Tony looked positively amused, Thor looked like he wanted to join in, Piotr looked confused, and Logan merely had to raise an eyebrow to show the fatherly 'what do you think you're doing?' vibe.

"Uhh... we were just... working...?" Kitty tried.

Logan stepped forward and crossed his arms. "Half-Pint, off the table and sit down, Red off the floor and head to your desk. You two will wait _patiently_ for your respective computer programs to load, and then eat your dinner that Tony has brought you. Got it?"

"Yes Logan."

* * *

Steve was always one to be responsible, respectful, and follow orders without fail. But as he stood before Fury, listening to the list of requirements that they were responsible for, he couldn't help but think that it was wrong. Fury had just informed that himself, Clint, and Natasha that Logan and Piotr were not allowed out of their rooms after 10 o'clock, were not allowed to have phones or computers on them, could not go anywhere unless escorted by one of the Avengers- not just a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent- and they were not allowed to use their powers at all unless one of the Avengers were with them. The girls had lighter rules, being able to stay up as last as they wanted as long as it had to do with work, were able to use computers and walk around with minimal security, but they still couldn't have their phones.

"With all do respect, doesn't that seem a bit excessive?" Steve questioned. "It's like we're treating them as prisoners just because they're mutants. And I know I've been frozen during the time that mutants were discovered, but people are still people and that hasn't changed any."

Fury stared down the Super Soldier. "That's all well and good Cap, but those two mutants are dangerous. We've got a file full of the incidents Wolverine's had when he was either, drunk, upset, or looked at wrong. And we've got no information on that other kid, Piotr Rasputin, but as you've seen he could level a building. Until they prove to me that they are no threat to us, then the protocols remain the same."

"I don't think that they'll do anything to suggest they'll be threats," Clint spoke up."

"Oh and you know this based on what? You're professional opinion as a psychologist?" Fury retorted.

Clint clenched his jaw to fight back a retort, but thankfully Natasha started speaking. "Then just let us do some research. Get me access to a laptop that actually works and I'll do research to make sure their past is clean. Clint and Steve can do leg work, chatting them up and bringing anything they think is useful to me."

Steve raised an eyebrow at that. Usually it would be Natasha doing any covert information gathering along with Clint, not him. "Uh... why aren't you going to 'chat them up'?"

"I will also, just not when you two do. It won't seem as obvious if we ask at different times. Plus, my methods are much different from the ones you will plan on using."

Steve and Clint merely shrugged. They knew that Natasha was very convincing when need be. Whatever her methods were, they worked, so they wouldn't dwell on that fact all that much. Fury was undecided for a few moments before he nodded. "Very well. I'll get you a computer, and you'll find any information you can on them. You report anything and everything back to me."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"You're fucking kidding me," Logan said in anger as he held onto the phone in his hands. Steve, Clint, and Natasha had just joined the others in the lab and had just informed their guests about the rules they were expected to follow. It was safe to say that Logan wasn't at all happy about the rules. Piotr didn't seem much happier and the girls were trying to keep their faces as neutral as possible. On the inside they were annoyed and mad about the way they were treating Logan and Piotr because they were mutants. After all, they themselves were mutants.

Clint gave an apologetic smile. "I know it sucks, but that's what Fury wants."

"C'mon Legolas, we don't need to treat them like prisoners," Tony retorted.

Bruce nodded. "I agree. Why should we treat Logan and Piotr any differently from Kitty and Gene just because they're mutants?"

Logan watched as the Avengers started arguing amongst eachother. Using the distraction he looked over towards Kitty and Gene. As soon as he caught their attention he gestured to the sim card slot in his own phone before pointing slightly to them. Both girls got the picture automatically and went to work quickly and covertly removing their sim cards from their phone and placing them in their pockets. As this was happening the only two to notice the exchange were Thor and Natasha. Thor had noticed because he had been eyeing Gene's bowl of chili with interest instead of paying attention to the argument, and Natasha because she was trying to notice anything suspicious about the mutants, and found that the two girls were acting quite suspicious.

"Look, it's no big deal," Kitty spoke up as the argument started escalating. She tossed her phone over to Steve, who juggled it a bit before catching it. "I can live without my phone for a few days. But the whole 'mutants get special rules' thing is pretty harsh."

"Katya is right. While we do not agree with your rules, we wish not to start trouble," Piotr said as he handed his phone to Natasha. Gene shrugged and tossed her phone over to Clint who caught it without any trouble. Logan looked at the three kids and sighed before handing his phone over to Natasha.

"Your boss sucks, I hope you know that," Logan retorted. He shook his head and snorted. "You'd think after we helped S.H.I.E.L.D. save the world he take the stick out of his ass."

"Well, it's already close to seven. You can spend some time in here if you want, but at nine thirty we're taking you and Piotr back to your rooms, no exceptions," Natasha said. "Sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Alright, this is now a fun zone," Tony spoke up, clearing his throat. "Anyone who wishes to damper the mood of the funzone must leave the immediate vicinity at this time."


	4. Fraternizing

A/N: Hey all! This chapter we're going to see a little bit about what the heck happened to all the computers, and we're going to see the reaction to the X-Men at their missing memebers! One extremely worried big brother Remy LeBeau coming right up! After this chapter, we'll have maybe one or two more chapters before the actually coming together of the two teams!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliance

Chapter 4: Fraternizing

Remy LeBeau was having a great day. Not just an 'okay, this could be better' day, but a fantastic day. He was sitting in the living room of the Institute, just him and Rogue, watching movies. Almost all of the younger kids had gone to the pool party Kitty and Gene had been raving about for weeks, and anyone who wasn't going there was out with Professor Xavier and Storm on a mission. The house was quite for a change, and now that Rogue was in control of her powers she was able to get as close as she wanted to her Cajun boyfriend.

"It's finally quite tonight," Rogue spoke as she nestled closer against Remy.

Remy nodded and smiled, kissing her forehead as he ignored the movie playing on the TV. "Yeah, Remy's beginnin' to like da quite. 'Specially when it means I get ta spend time with ma chere."

"Hey! What's up blokes!"

Remy rolled his eyes as John ran into the room and jumped on the couch, with Wanda not far behind. "So much for da quite."

"Aw, c'mon Remy, there's plenty o' room in 'ere now that the kiddies are all gone. Remind me to thank Gene and Kitty when they get back anyway. Them ravin' about that party got almost everyone gone!"

Wanda nodded. "Yeah, even Logan's gone surprisingly. I wouldn't have expected him to be one for pool parties. Especially with college kids."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. The thought of her surrogate father going to a pool party with her sisters and Piotr to hang out with other kids whom he wasn't responsible for? That was just impossible to imagine. Probably because he would never do it. "Logan didn't go to that party. He just went ta drop off Gene."

John shrugged. "Probably stopped at a bar or something."

With that the others agreed (that was a far more plausible theory) and continued on watching the movie. It was just a few hours later that the kids started arriving, slowly starting to trickle in at first, before there were the sounds of laughter, and loud conversations. Everyone of the kids that passed by the living room stopped by to say high to the four mutants before going on their way. Remy, who had been keeping an eye out for his sister, frowned. Seeing Kurt he whistled. "Hey homme! C'mon a minute!"

Kurt looked over before teleporting to sit on the head rest of the couch just behind his sister. "Yes?"

"Can ya tell me when ma lil belle etoile is comin' back? I gotta chat with 'er and I need ta know what time she's goin' be strollin' in here."

"Gene? Vhy vould I know vhen Gene vould be home?" Kurt asked in confusion.

Rogue frowned at her brother. "Sugah, ya were at the same party with her an' Kitty."

Kurt shook his head. "No, I vasn't. Kitty and Gene never showed."

"What?" Remy asked, sitting up straight.

John raised an eyebrow. "What about Petey? Was he-"

"Non, if da chaton ain't dere den Petey ain't either," Remy stated pulling out a deck of cards from his trench coat and shuffling them nervously. "Has anyone seen Wolvie?"

"Not since he left earlier vith the girls and Peter."

Rogue threw her hands up. "Whoa, hold up here. Ya're tellin' me that Logan, Kitty, Piotr, and Gene are all missin'?"

Everyone was silent for a second before they all pulled out their cell phones in a frantic hurry. "I'll call Kitty," Wanda spoke quickly.

"I've got Petey," John added on.

"Logan," Rogue said before pressing the phone to her ear. No one even bothered to ask who Remy was calling. Kurt, seeing the worry in the faces of the four mutants, frowned.

"I'll go get Warren! He's the one incharge vith everyone gone!" With that Kurt 'bamfed' away.

Wanda hung up the phone and started dialing again. "Kitty's not answering."

"Damn it Logan," Rogue muttered before calling a second time.

John just hung up the phone for the third time before sighing and dropping it in his lap. "Petey's phone is off."

A 'bamf' was heard just to the left of the couch and John turned his attention to see a startled looking Warren and a worried Kurt. "Anything?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing mate. Just voicemails."

"Please call back when ya get this message sugah," Rogue said before hanging up the phone.

"Kitty you're never more than two feet away from your phone, call me back now!" Wanda ordered before trying again.

Remy had one hand over his eyes, the other holding his phone. He was muttering some words in French that sounded like prayers before he cursed loudly. "Genevieve Renee, dis is da third time I've called ya. I ain't amused by dis. Answer da phone." As soon as he left a message he hung up and started dialing again, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"What's going on?" Warren asked in confusion as he looked around the room at the frantic mutants. "What happened?"

Wanda was the first to start explaining seeing as she had just finished sending another voicemail to Kitty. "Logan, Kitty, Peter, and Gene are missing. No ones seen them and they're not answering their phones."

"Where did you all last see them?" Warren asked, his face getting serious.

"Just before they left for the party," Rogue answered quickly before starting another message for Logan.

Warren nodded. "Kurt find Rahne, now."

"She's in the bathroom and-"

"I don't care if you have to pull her out of the damn shower, just get her here. And someone go get Jamie, Bobby, and Jubilee. We're gonna need as many people as possible to start searching."

As soon as Kurt and Warren left the room John and Wanda got up and left too, muttering something about calling Pietro and some others. That only left Rogue and Remy. Rogue had given up calling Logan and sighed looking towards Remy who was looking more and more livid by the second. "Genevieve Renee, now ya listen to me, ya gonna..." Remy's face softened to a point that Rogue's never really seen before. He looked so vulnerable, so scared. He looked like he would cry. "...please, jus' give me a call okay? If anythin' were ta happen I'd... ma belle etoile, please jus' call..."

Rogue looked at her boyfriend and frowned moving closer and placing a hand on his cheek. Remy leaned into her hand and kissed her wrist gently, his eyes still burning with worry. "Hey don't worry sugah, we're gonna find 'em."

Remy's eyes switched quickly from worry to anger. "An' I'm gonna maim dem idiots who took ma sistah. If dey so much as touch a single hair on 'er head-"

"She'll be fine, Remy."

"Ya don' know dat ma chere. She could be gettin' tortured somewhere..."

* * *

"Oh my god! This cheesecake is AMAZING!" Gene exclaimed, eating the slice of cheesecake in front of her with relish. Kitty was having her own oreo cheesecake as she continued debugging JARVIS. The two girls were sitting in the lab by themselves as they continued their work, eating the dessert that Bruce had brought them before heading off to bed. Logan and Piotr had been taken to their room over two hours ago, and the others had gone off to sleep not long after. The two girls, however, were hard at work trying to fix the computer systems.

"It's original style, how is that so amazing?" Kitty asked smiling as she looked up from her computer.

Gene stared at her friend in shock. "Kitty, I'm surprised at you! This is _New York_ Style Cheescake! That automatically makes it amazing!"

Kitty laughed and rolled her eyes at her Cajun friend. It was either Gene was trying to get her to try some spicy food from the bayou that was liable to melt of her tongue, or she was eating and sharing desserts. Gene had a very bad habit about being picky with what she ate so if it wasn't Cajun, burgers and fries, or dessert, she would tend not to eat it. "You know I'm totally going to talk to Logan and the Cajun and convince them to change your eating habits."

"Why? I eat fine!" Gene argued going back to working on the servers.

"You barely eat anything that isn't from 'da bayou', fast food, or dessert!" Kitty pointed out, mimicking Remy's accent. Gene stuck her tongue out at her friend before Kitty finished up her dessert and stretched her arms over her head. "Anyways, JARVIS is good as new. I just ran a diagnostic on his system and everything is up and running. I even added a few new security measures, just in case so he'll be better then ever. Now I'll start helping you with the S.H.I.E.L.D systems."

Gene shook her head. "Nah, you go get some sleep Kitty, I'll finish up here."

"You're gonna need help, Gene."

"And you're going to need sleep," Gene retorted quickly. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. If you really want to help, then you can get up early and work on the systems while I sleep in, okay?"

Kitty frowned a bit before shrugged, getting up from her sead and heading towards the door. "If you're sure. Night Gene, if you need any help just come and wake me."

"Night Kitty."

As soon as her friend disappeared, and the last of her cheesecake was eaten, Gene got straight to work. She was so busy working and so sleep deprived she didn't even notice that someone else was in the room with her until she heard someone clear their throat. She yelped before whirling around in her chair and staring at the intruder. Recognizing the marksman of the Avengers, Gene ran a nervous hand through her hair while the other hand was underneath the desk, hiding the energy attack she was prepared to fire, before making it go away. "Jesus! You scared the crap outta me!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Clint half-apologized, half-laughed. He hit the metal fork in his hand against the plate he was carrying and smiled. "Apology gift?"

"What is that?" Gene asked with a raised eyebrow.

Clint moved towards her and sat in the seat next to her, waving the a slice of original New York Style Cheesecake tauntingly. A smile graced Gene's lips. "Word around the is that you like cheesecake. But if they're wrong, then I can just take this back..."

Gene smiled and grabbed the plate enthusiastically. She went to grab the fork from Clint's hands but he held it away, a smirk on his face. She pouted a bit until Clint waved the fork and dropped it into her grasp. Gene took a bite into the creamy dessert before smiling in satisfaction. "So, why you doing this?"

"Why am I doing what?"

"Bringing me cheesecake. What's the catch?" Gene asked, leaning forward, her eyes narrowed in a playful glance.

Clint pretended to look offended. "Can't a man just try and be kind and bring a girl a dessert?" At Gene's 'bull-shit' look, Clint started chuckling. "Not buying it, huh?"

"Not one bit," Gene spoke giggling.

"Fine, I admit it. I was really sent down here to get more information from you," Clint spoke, a mock serious look on his face.

Gene took a bite of her cheesecake and sat back in her seat, a small smile pulling at her lips. "Oh really? And what type of information was it that you were sent to get, if I may ask?"

Clint shrugged, spinning around in his rolling chair, resting his chin on his intertwined hands. "Some more details about your life. Family life, hobbies, interests, etc. Also about any ties you might have to various people that might-"

"If you want to know if I have a boyfriend, all you have to do is ask," Gene cut him off, smiling.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope. What about you? You got a girl waiting up for you?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be here right now, would I?"

"Point taken," Gene said with a nod. Devouring the last bite of her dessert, she pushed the plate away and then turned her entire attention back to Clint. "So, Mr. Barton-"

"Please, call me Clint."

"Alright, Clint. How good at you at shooting your bow and arrow?"

Clint looked bewildered. He didn't recall telling any of the guests that he was the archer of the team. He didn't even have his bow on him. Sure, it could've been the fact that they had just battled Loki not too long ago, but as soon as the news crews arrived he and Natasha were the first ones to split. "How do you know I'm an archer?"

Gene blushed a bit, shifting in her seat to look as if she was with the computer before answering, a sheepish tone in her voice. "I uh... heard Tony calling you Legolas earlier and I'm kinda a nerd with those kinda things so, yeah..."

"No way, you're a nerd?" Clint asked, grinning.

"Yeah, your point?" Gene asked, her cheeks still a nice pink color.

Clint's grin widened as he looked at the blushing girl. "Nothing, I just wouldn't have pegged you as the 'nerd' type."

Gene snorted. "Why, because I'm a hot nerd?"

"Well, honestly, yes. Pleasant surprise though."

"I'm just full of surprises," Gene smiled.

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Like what?"

"Now a girl can't reveal all her secrets, can she? Then that leaves no mystery. What fun would that be?" Gene smirked at the small smile Clint had. "No sir, you must figure those out along the way."

"Well I like a challenge."

Gene laughed, focusing on typing on the computer. "And a challenge is just what you'll get..." Gene trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing and eyes narrowing. Moving closer to the computer screen she frowned, starting to type away at something. Clint noticed the change in demeanor and moved closer to the computer so he was right next to her, trying to see what it is that was capturing her attention. "What is it?"

"Grab me that notbook will you?" Gene said instead of answering.

Clint looked over on the desk and saw the black spiral notebook she was referring to and handed it over to her. Gene immediately pulled a pen out from above her ear and started scribbling a series of letters and numbers while alternating between looking up at the screen and looking up at the ceiling. Staring at the computer screen with a whole page of code (or what look like code to Clint) and the random looking letters and numbers that Gene kept writing down, Clint was horribly confused. "What does all that mean?"

"It means, that I need to talk to Kitty," Gene said urgently, scribbling down a few more things before typing something on the computer, causing the entire screen to turn blank, and a datapad to turn on, showing the screen that was once on the computer.

"What's going on?" Clint asked, switching into his military mode automatically.

Gene looked up at him and blinked before smiling sheepishly. "Oh, I'm worrying you aren't I? I'm sorry, it's nothing really, but codes is actually Kitty's area of expertise and this one is a bit of a pain in the ass as far as codes go."

Clint nodded, but still didn't look convinced. "Are you sure, it's nothing major? If it is we have to report it to Fury right away."

"No, it's just that if I want access to actually even _start_ to fix this problem, I need Kitty to take care of this, and I want to have the system set up to start working on for tomorrow morning," Gene explained grabbing the notebook and datapad. She got up from he desk and started for the door, Clint right behind her. She stopped to turn towards him and smiled. "Intend on following me?"

"Well, it's only polite to walk a girl to her destination this late at night."

"You do realize we're on an airship with hundreds of agents on board right?"

"So?"

"Fair enough," Gene shrugged smiling. She and Clint walked along the halls, heading in the direction of Kitty's room. "So, is this going to become a usual thing, or am I going to have to find a new source of entertainment for my late night work?"

"Depends if you want me to come back," Clint said with a smirk.

Gene gave him a sly smile before clicking her tongue. "Hm... you were entertaining... so I would say yes."

"Then I'll be there."

They reached Kitty's room a few moments later and Clint took Gene's free hand and kissed her knuckles. Gene smirked a bit, but didn't blush or giggle like Clint had anticipated. It would make all the girls he date turn to giggling schoolgirls, but not Gene. Gene had spent too much time around her brother, seeing the way he operates. And Remy was the master at what he did. "That's adorable that you're trying, but this has been done before, so if you're gonna impress me, you'll have to try harder."

Clint smiled as he backed away, headed towards the wing where his room was located, his eyes never leaving Gene's form. "Like I said, I like a challenge."

Gene rolled her eyes and walked into the room. Clint smiled as he turned on his heel and walked away. He couldn't help grinning as he walked down the halls, thinking back on his conversation with Gene. She was gorgeous, and he was sure she was into him. He just needed to figure out how she ticked and then all would be good. Maybe he could talk to Kitty about that... she and Gene were pretty close after all. As he walked into his room, flicking on the light, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He paused for a second before lunging for the compound bow and quiver on his desk, only to realize they weren't there.

"You know Fury's going to have your ass for what you're doing right?"

Clint's muscles relaxed as he turned towards his closet, seeing his best friend standing there, holding his bow in her hands tauntingly. Holding out his hand, Natasha threw the bow his way and he caught it, placing it back on his desk where it had been originally, then doing the same to the quiver. "Doing what, Nat?" Clint asked, fawning ignorance even though he knew that Natasha would most definitely know what was going on.

"Flirting with Genevieve."

Clint rolled his eyes. "C'mon Tasha, what's so wrong with some harmless flirting?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow as if the answer should be obvious. "If you can't be objective and do your job without feelings interfering, then it becomes a problem, Clint."

"What about you and the Cap?" Clint retorted without missing a beat.

"Not the topic we were discussing."

Clint sighed realizing that was Natasha's way of saying 'continue this conversation and your safety wont be guaranteed'. "Tasha, you know me. You know that I'm a professional. Even if I am flirting with this girl, I'm not going to lose my head over it. It's just harmless fun, besides it's not like I'm going to fall for her or anything."

Looking into her eyes he saw that she had seemed to accept his answer. "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if you did. She seems nice enough."

"Bi-polar today are we? First you say not to flirt with her, and now you say I should fall for her?" Clint pointed out.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "If you recall I said that Fury would have your ass. I personally don't care what you do as long as you're safe and happy."

Clint smiled at her and nodded. "I know Tasha, so unless you're going to sit around with me and talk about our feelings, I'm assuming that you're here for another reason?"

Natasha tossed four phones onto Clint's bed. He recognized it as the four cell phones that they had confiscated from Logan, Peter, Kitty, and Gene earlier on in the day. Clint looked up in confusion at Natasha as she plopped down at one end of the bed, pulling out a laptop that she must have stolen from Tony's room. Clint joined her on the bed and raised an eyebrow, knowing she would explain herself in due time.

"There were numerous calls placed to the phones, all around the same time. There are about 20 voicemails between the four phones, and we have some research to do."


	5. Phone Calls and Cock Blocks

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that last chapter! It was loads of fun to write, and we're going to see some more of the X-Men at the Institute in the chapter! Plus a complication arises when the mutants onboard the Hellicarrier discover something very interesting about the thing affecting the computer systems. And with the constant calls to their phones, Logan, Piotr, Kitty, and Gene have to figure out a way to phone home. And the girls have an interesting idea for how to do that...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or X-Men, only my OC. Oh, and just FYI I have no idea about the computer jargon I'm going to be using so I'm winging it!

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliance

Chapter 5: Phone Calls and Cock Blocks

As soon as Gene walked through the door to her and Kitty's room, her smile dropped and a serious look graced her features. She had completely lied to Clint when she said the problem on the computer was nothing. It was something, and a major something at that. Flipping on the light switch, she ignored Kitty's groans of protest as she covered her head with her blanket. "Gene, turn the lights off, I was half asleep," Kitty whined.

Gene simply ignored her and instead moved over to Kitty's bed, ripping the blanket off, and climbing over Kitty's body to sit cross-legged next to the girl, as if the phaser wasn't completely complaining and whining. Gene tilted the datapad so Kitty could have a better view of it before she started speaking. "Kitty, take a look at this. I got past the firewall for the security and got to the encryptions but-" Gene cut herself off realizing that Kitty had buried her head under her pillow and was completely ignoring her. Removing the pillow, Gene snapped her fingers in Kitty's face. "Are you even paying attention?"

"Well, now I am," Kitty asked in obvious annoyance. "Really? This couldn't have waited til like, morning or something?"

"No it couldn't, now will you please look at this?"

Kitty sighed and grabbed the datapad, still not looking interested. After a few seconds of staring at the screen in her hands, her eyes widened and she sat up onto her elbow. She looked towards Gene with a raised eyebrow. "You see what I see?"

"If I didn', I wouldn' be 'ere waking ya up chaton," Gene responded. Kitty raised an eyebrow in confusion before frowning at her friend.

"Hey don't get frustrated with me, Gene," Kitty commented after noting the slip in accent from her Cajun friend.

"I'm not frustrated, I'm just-"

Kitty snorted and cut her off. "You and I both know that whenever you're worried, angry, frustrated, scared, or embarrassed you start sounding like Remy."

"Whatever Kitty, but you see what I mean?" Gene asked, motioning to the datapad once more and making sure that her accent didn't slip in again. At Kitty's nod, Gene closed her eyes and sighed. "We need to tell Logan and Peter."

"Well that'll have to wait til morning. They aren't allowed out of their rooms at night."

Gene raised an eyebrow. "And do what? Talk to them in private? The agents are gonna be all over their asses making sure they aren't gonna do something they deem 'dangerous'. The only time were gonna be able to talk to them alone is now. Besides, just because they can't leave their rooms doesn't mean we cant."

"Alright, so what are we waiting for?" Kitty asked, already getting up from her bed. Kitty was wearing a pair of army print sweatpants and a grey tank top, which Gene assumed were the clothes that the two girls were given to use as pajamas. Gene gave the notebook and datapad to Kitty while she grabbed the clothes on her own bed.

"We're waiting for me to change, because as soon as we get back I'm crashing."

* * *

"Explain that again slowly, and pretend as if we're idiots and have no idea what any of this means. Actually on second thought, don't pretend," Logan said as he stared at the two girls in front of him. He was beyond confused by whatever it was that the girls were trying to explain, and one look towards Piotr showed Logan that the Russian didn't understand either. The girls had just shown up not five minutes earlier, woken them both up, and started blathering on about some sort of computer thing.

Kitty groaned dramatically before sitting down on the edge of Piotr's bed and looking at both him and Logan. "Listen very carefully. Gene discovered an inconsistency in the encryptions on the-" Kitty cut herself off as she noticed the 'what the hell are you saying?' look that Logan had on his face. "Gene found something in the program that didn't belong. It was a... like a timer. A countdown clock."

"Why would their be a countdown clock?" Piotr asked in confusion.

"That's what I asked myself," Gene spoke up. "So I started looking at it more closely and created a back door of my own- which took some work- and saw that all of the files that are in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database seem to be there, and intact. Nothing was taken at all, which is odd. If someone could do that kinda of damage to the computer system to knock out JARVIS, why not just take all the files, right? After checking back on the countdown I saw that it was set to reach zero in three days."

"Three days? What the hell happens in three days?" Logan asked.

Kitty started talking this time, not yet answering Logan's question. "Whoever did this, is an expert at hacking and being a pain in the ass, but retrieval is something more difficult. Whoever it is has to be _physically_ on board to get the goods. We think that the whole thing- the computer crashings, the firewalls, the encryptions- is all one big trap. And that if we break the encryptions to get access to the files, it'll be like a trip wire and trigger what was going to happen after the countdown ended. " Logan looked pointedly at Kitty in a way that said 'quit the dramatics and spit it out'. "At the end of the countdown, or if someone trips the metaphoric wire, then all the files will get wiped and transferred to a hidden flashdrive somewhere on this ship, falling right into the hands of whoever it is that planted this virus in the first place."

Logan's eyes widened before he held up a hand. "Wait, you mean to tell me that in three days no matter what, those files are getting stolen _and_ that the person who did it is on this ship?" Logan may not have been happy with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but he still knew that in the wrong hands, the files could cause disaster. At the girls nod, he sighed. "Crap, looks like we're gonna be here longer than we thought. Girls, I want you to try and figure out how to get those files safe, and make sure that no one breaks the encryptions. Pete and I are going to start sniffing around and see if we can flush out who it is that's doing this, figure out why it's happening, and put a stop to it."

"We can try and lift a thumb drive off of Tony, or maybe a supply room or something. Then we can download the files from the backdoor I created. That way we'll have a copy in case anything goes bad," Kitty spoke up quickly.

Gene nodded before a thought hit her. Her eyes widened and she winced before running a hand through her hair. "We also have another problem. Everyone back at the institute is probably going crazy trying to figure out where we are." Everyone winced, realizing that for the first time. "And since we have no phones..."

"We can't contact them," Piotr finished. The group sat in silence for a second before Piotr smiled. "But we have our communicators!"

Logan shook his head. "The second we turned them on to make a call, the suits would try and tap into it and hear what's going on. We'd have to be away from here in order to make a call."

Kitty's face lit up and she turned to give Gene a look. Gene raised an eyebrow for a second before she understood what Kitty was thinking, her lips tugging into a smirk. Logan eyed the two girls for a second, knowing whatever it was that they were smirking at, wasn't a good idea and was liable to be dangerous. "Whatever it is that you're thinking of, we're not doing it."

"C'mon Logan. It's a great way to make the call! And if anything bad happens, Gene can always save herself!"

_That_ peaked Logan's interest, wondering what in the hell his two daughters were even talking about. Sighing, he scrubbed his face with his hand. "I know I'm going to regret this, but just explain."

"Alright, so we can set this plan in motion tomorrow morning..."

* * *

It was around six in the morning. Steve, of no surprise to anyone, was already up and wandering around. He had gone to work out for around forty-five minutes before he showered and started to head towards the kitchen. On his way, he passed by the lab and noticed two figures hunched over desks. Pausing, he back tracked and looked in seeing both Kitty and Gene, wearing the clothes that they had given the girls to sleep in, passed out on their desks. Frowning, he walked into the room and made his way over to the two sleeping girls. He shook Kitty's shoulder gently and had to jump back to avoid getting hit in the face by the startled, half-asleep, girl.

"Who... wha..?" Kitty looked up at the super soldier and smiled a bit before waving, a sleepy expression still on her face. "Hi."

"Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Ew, 'ma'am' makes me sound so old. Just call me Kitty, please."

"Okay then m... Kitty," Steve quickly caught himself. "Why are you dames sleeping in here?"

Kitty ignored the 'dames' comment, reminding herself that Steve spent most of the new century frozen in ice. Rubbing her eyes she briefly wondered why she was in the lab before her sleep deprived brain caught up with her. "Gene and I went to bed around two and woke up at five to get back to work. Guess we must've fallen asleep while working on the programs."

Steve frowned, not particularly happy with the amount of sleep the girls had gotten. They were still young and trying to fix a complex system of machine while operating on only three hours sleep was bound to be difficult. Which was evident in the way Gene was still passed out on her desk, and Kitty looked ready to join her again. "You girls should be getting rest. While we appreciate your effort, we don't want you both to become sleep deprived and exhausted."

Kitty merely shrugged before the door opened, Piotr and Clint walking into the lab. Both men each held two steaming cups in their hands. At the sight of the cups, Kitty perked up, reaching her hand out to her boyfriend eagerly. "Did you remember the marshmallows?"

"Of course."

"God, I love you," Kitty beamed taking one of the cups from Piotr. She immediately started sipping from the cup and smiled. "Gotta love hot chocolate," Kitty spoke up as Piotr walked over to put the other cup in his hands by Gene's desk, shaking the girl slightly and getting her to wake up as violently as Kitty had. As soon as her head was off the desk, Piotr moved the cup into her hands before whispering something to her and heading over to sit with Kitty. Clint handed Piotr one of the cups in his hands before sipping at the other.

"What are you all doing up?" Steve asked curiously.

"Logan and I woke up around twenty minutes ago and found these two unconscious. Logan went to get breakfast and I got coffee and hot chocolate," Piotr explained. He then gestured to Clint. "Agent Barton and Dr. Banner were the two men who were to watch us in the morning, so they kindly escorted us to the kitchen."

Steve nodded in understanding before frowning again. "Don't you think they should be getting some more sleep?"

"We tried," Clint answered his fellow Avenger. "They wouldn't budge. Kept talking about how they had to work."

"When those girls set their minds to something, you can't pry them away from their work." The men in the room turned to see Logan and Bruce walking in with plates in their hands. "Half-Pint, Bruce has got your oatmeal and bagel, and Red here are your pancakes. How you two can eat that with hot chocolate, I don't know."

"Chewing would be a good guess," Gene retorted as she bit into her pancake.

"Quit being a smartass Red," Logan warned, tossing a look over at the girl. Gene rolled her eyes but smiled, knowing that Logan would never do anything to harm her even if she _did_ push his buttons, as she continued eating. Logan ignored the girl and then turned to look at Steve. "Cap, it occured to me that while Xavier won't care about Piotr and I gone for this long, Gene and Kitty both have families they need to contact."

Steve's face read one of shock. "Oh, I hadn't thought about that! I've sure you're families are worried sick! Don't worry I'll get you ladies a phone and we'll start contacting-"

"We can't, Steve," Clint cut it. Steve turned a confused look towards Clint.

"What do you mean we can't?"

Clint sighed and leaned against Gene's desk before speaking. "Fury's orders. No one's allowed to make any calls or try to contact anyone outside of the Hellicarrier. Even _we_ can't unless we have permission. Something about him not wanting anyone to try anything. No e-mails, no cells, no nothing."

"This is their _family_ they are talking about Clint. Surely you don't think that they're going to plot something. They need to tell their family where they are," Steve argued.

Bruce nodded. "I've got to agree with Steve on this one."

Clint held his arms up hopelessly. "Not my choice. Talk to Fury."

"I don't have to call home. I don't live with my parents and I have no siblings," Gene shrugged.

Kitty bit her lip and sighed. "I guess when my parents ask, I can just say I was staying at Gene's apartment so there isn't any kind of lawsuit..."

Clint tossed the two girls an appreciative glance. Steve and Bruce on the other hands sighed. They weren't big on the whole 'strict rules' thing. While this was happening Logan and Piotr shared a look. Piotr's plan to contact the others had failed, and since all of Logan's ideas had to do with physical harm, they had to go with Kitty and Gene's plan. And even though it was a brilliant plan, they really wanted to avoid it. After all, there were so many things that could go wrong, and because phase one was borderline suicide. Not because it was dangerous, oh no, they knew Gene would handle herself like a champ if anything went wrong. It would be borederline suicide because Remy would have their asses if anything happened to his sister...

* * *

"Are you sure this is safe?" Piotr asked as he slowly crept out onto the deck of the hellicarrier. He, Kitty, and Gene were on the deck with all the Avengers minus Thor and Bruce, being put in charge of Logan. They had been hovering over the Long Island sound for the duration of the girls stay, and Tony had decided the girls needed fresh air after Kitty had complained about being cooped up in the labratory for so long. Piotr immediately insisted on going to 'insure no harm came to Katya or Gene' who apparently were quite accident prone. Steve and Clint happened to be in the room when Tony had brought up the idea, so they called the rest of the Avengers to come with them. Thor had desperately wanted to go, but Logan was content with just staying inside so the God of Thunder had to stay in. Bruce, just didn't want to go out. Last time he ended up falling and crashing into a warehouse, so he tended to stay away from heights when he was Bruce Banner. Hulk... well, Hulk just did what he wanted.

"Completely!" Tony beamed. Then he paused. "Well, if you don't fall off at least."

"How encouraging," Kitty deadpanned.

The group travelled to the middle of the deck and the two girls looked in awe at the scenary. "This is soo cool! I've only been up this high in an airplane, and never on the outside! This is amazing!"

"I'm guessing you've never had a view quite like this before?" Clint asked, a smirk on his face.

"Definitely nothing like this," Gene lied. Honestly, she remembered having quite a similar view of the New York skyline during one of the missions that she and Jean (the X-Men had a ball making jokes about the two girls with identical hair colors, and names that sounded identical to the point where Gene just insisted they called her Cajun) had been told to take care of the Brotherhood while standing on the top of a jet moving well over 180 MPH. She earned quite the ear ful from Logan and Remy after they had gotten briefed on what happened during the mission.

"I guess you're not as fearful of heights as your friends," Natasha spoke with a quirked eyebrow and a small tug at the corner of her lips, gesturing to Kitty and Piotr who were staying clear of the edges and sticking close to the middle.

"I fall like a rock, and cause quite a crater when I do land," Piotr pointed out.

"I go 'splat' if I fall..." Kitty said, reminding everyone that she was not a mutant. Well... reminding everyone who didn't know better.

"Heights are not all that bad, except if you crash it into subzero waters," Steve said.

Tony started laughing. "And that's how we got our Capsicle!"

"Will you ever stop calling me that?"

"No, everyone has nicknames!"

"Don't we get a choice of what you call us?" Clint asked, remembering the times that Tony called him 'Legolas'.

"Nope!"

"You didn't give Natasha a nickname!" Steve pointed out like a child.

"Hey, how far can you see from this place?" Gene asked no one in particular, ignoring the argument going on behind her, moving a bit closer to the edge. "I bet you can see my house from here!"

"Gene, don't go too close!" Piotr shouted towards the girl. Gene turned around and pouted, clearly wanting to go closer.

Natasha smiled. The girl had guts. She could respect that, and she had started coming to like the group of visitors. "Just make sure you don't go past the yellow line!" At that Gene beamed and practically skipped to the yellow line four feet from the edge, making sure to stop.

"Natasha's nickname will not be Spidey! Isn't that already a superhero?"

"I don't need a nickname," Natasha spoke up.

"Nonsense!" Tony said, appalled by Natasha even speaking such blashphemy. No nicknames? What had the world come to?

"Genevieve, please come back from there. It isn't safe, and your brother will kill me if anything happens to you," Piotr said as he noticed the wind starting to pick up. He held onto Kitty, just in case, and was still trying to convince Gene to get away from the edge. Kitty, noticing the wind, also started calling to her friend.

"I'm fine!" Gene smiled, turning around to look at them. Her smile, however turned to a horrified look when a particularly strong gust of wind blew by, causing everyone to move slightly, and knocking Gene onto her butt, well over the yellow line so the edge was directly behind her. Gene looked up in fright, and started scrambling to get up. Clint immediately started running towards her.

"Don't get up! Stay down!" Clint shouted, but Gene didn't head his warnings. Another gust of wind came and blew her off of the Hellicarrier, hurtling towards the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Tony! Suit up!" Steve shouted at the billionaire, while Natasha settled for running inside to do... something. Whatever she was doing included a lot of screaming and cursing in various different languages. Tony dashed inside followed by Clint and Steve (Clint having to be yelled at by Steve to get him to focus), pushing in a screaming Piotr and a shrieking/crying Kitty.

Tony started running towards one of the labs, but soon stopped as he heard thunderous footsteps. Turning he saw Thor running past him, Logan, Bruce, and Natasha on his heels, heading straight for the deck of the Hellicarrier. Tony had to mentally applaud Natasha's quick thinking in getting Thor. If anyone would have a chance at saving Gene, it would be the God of Thunder.

* * *

As soon as she was over the edge Gene couldn't help but smirk at the fact that the phase one was working. She quickly pulled out the communicator she had in her pocket and placed it in her ear and turned it on. "This is Marvel Girl. Is anyone there? Can anyone respond?" Gene waited a few seconds before a crackling sound came to life.

_"Gene?! Gene, is that you?!"_ Bobby's voice flooded her ears.

Gene sighed. It just _had_ to be Bobby. Well, seeing as the water was looking closer and closer, she figured anyone would be good at this point. "Bobby, listen up and do what I say. Tell Remy we're on a mission, and we're fine. We've got a plan in place and we're going to need help. When Kitty contacts you, send Kurt in and track the signal from the communicator. Now I've got to go, I'm about to crash land in the ocean." Gene didn't wait for a response, and simply crushed the communicator in her hands and dropped the pieces before screaming again. She was getting dangerously close to the water. Thunder filled the skies and Gene continued screaming until she felt an arm (a rather large and chiseled arm) wrap around her waist and she started flying up. Gene yelped before turning around to wrap her arms around Thor's neck and burying her face in his chest, pretending to shake.

Thor held onto her tightly until they touched down onto the deck of the Hellicarrier. Gene proceeded to continue shaking and forced herself to shed tears (she internally thought of how proud her brother would be at her acting skills), while Thor pet her hair gently. "Fret not, little one. You are no longer in harms way," Thor spoke softly, as if soothing a child.

"Gene! Gene!" Kitty shouted as she, Piotr, and Logan, rushed out to meet the Asgardian and the girl in his grip. Thor put the girl down and she was immediately pulled into hugs by Kitty and Piotr, before being pried away from both of them by Logan, the feral man looking her over and acting as if he was making sure she wasn't injured. What he really was looking for was the small upturn in the corner of her lips for a split second before it went away. So, the job had been done. The Avengers all ran out to join them. Now, for the acting.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I told you not to go there!"

"What were you doing so close to the edge!"

"We'll have to run a diagnostic!"

"The little one is unharmed."

"You sure took your damn time getting her!"

"Clint, be happy he got to her at all. He had a long way to run."

"Everyone out of the way! Gene, look into this light for me?"

"Enough!" Steve shouted, catching everyone's attention. He quickly moved to intercept Gene and shielded her from the rest of the group. "Dr. Banner, come with me and Gene, we're going to take her to the lab to make sure she's alright." Gene immediately got wide eyes and clutched onto Thor's arm like a frightened child. Steve noticed and nodded. "Thor you come too." Everyone started arguing with the super soldier, but he largely ignored them as he, Bruce, Thor, and Gene started walking away. "After she's okay, you can see her."

* * *

"You seem fine, but how do _you_ feel?" Bruce asked, as he put the pen light down to look into Gene's eyes. The girl was perched on the desk back in his lab (after Steve had agreed not to go to the medical bay, seeing that Fury didn't need to know about one of the civilians nearly dying), still shaking slightly, but Thor's large hands on her shoulders kept her as calm as she could get.

"I-I'm... still a bit shaken up," Gene admitted, after composing herself to cover up her stutter. "I was just... so close to hitting..."

Bruce nodded before grabbing Steve and walking towards the door, leaving Thor with Gene. "She's in shock," Bruce told the super soldier, who was listening attentively. "She's traumatized, but she's likely to calm down after a few hours. For now, we should keep her relaxed and make sure no one brings up what just happened. Trying to keep her as calm as possible. So far, it looks like she's attached to Thor, so we should keep him around her."

"Alright, so let's bring in the others and let them know," Steve spoke up.

"The others already know."

The doors slid open showing that the group of Avengers and mutants were standing there, and Logan had apparently been listening in and relaying the information to the others. Kitty immediately rushed forward, and wrapping the girl into a hug. "Are you okay?" Kitty asked, worry evident in her tone.

Gene nodded, smiling a bit. "I'm okay."

"Hey, is anyone else hungry?" Clint asked, obviously changing the direction of the conversation.

"I require sustenance!" Thor bellowed in his jolly tone, immediately lifting the spirits of everyone in the room.

"I could use some food..." Gene spoke up quietly.

Immediately everyone started agreeing about how they were hungry and could use some food. Tony, Steve, and Clint went to go get food, while the others stayed behind and started talking to keep Gene occupied. Natasha and Piotr had started talking to Gene all about Russia, with Logan and Kitty supplying questions to keep the conversation going, trying to calm the girl down. Thor, as soon as they were done, started talking about Asgard, not fully understanding the concept of 'indoor voice' yet. Bruce decided to keep quiet and only spoke up to make some jokes that got smiles on everyones face.

After a few hours of hanging out in the lab and getting Gene to calm down, Natasha had slipped out saying she needed to get some work done. As soon as she left the room she made a bee-line for her own room and immediately got onto the laptop she had stolen from Tony's room. There was something that was bothering her about the whole situation. Clint had told her that Gene was an only child, but today was the second time that Piotr mentioned an older brother. She thought the kids were nice and seemed okay, but they were lying and Natasha Romanoff did _no__t _like being lied to. Waiting for the laptop to turn on, she grabbed her headphones and plugged them in, wanting to go over the voicemails again. The computer turned on and Natasha raised an eyebrow, just as she did the night before, when she saw the particular screensaver that Tony had on his laptop. It was of a young looking girl, at around 18 or 19, dressed up in a tiny black dress. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes, and a beautiful smile.

"Sure hope Pepper doesn't see this, or Tony's dead," Natasha mused to herself as she continued the research she had been doing the night before. She listened to the voicemails over and over again, taking extra interest in the voicemails to Gene's phone. The man speaking had a definite Cajun accent, and seemed to care quite a bit about her. "'Ma belle etoile...' huh... let's see what that means," Natasha spoke to herself as she opened up a browser and looked up the definition. "My beautiful star. How sweet," Natasha deadpanned before having an idea. "Let's see how many Cajun mutants are there that have anything to do with Piotr and Logan..."

Natasha continued her search before she found something quite troubling to her. The information she found was a shock to her, but it was very useful. Scowling to herself at being toyed with, she slammed the computer shut and got up from the bed, grabbing her gun and making sure it was loaded, before heading over to Gene and Kitty's room. There was no one in the room, but she had no qualms with waiting. Perching herself on one of the beds, Natasha crossed her legs and held her gun at the ready, waiting for whichever one of the girls that would enter first.

* * *

"Are you sure your okay?" Clint asked as he looked at Gene.

All of the others had just left; Logan and Piotr going to get some beers to bring back with Thor and Steve, Tony going to get some dessert, Bruce and Kitty heading down to the supply area to get some more viles for an experiment they were planning for later. It was just Clint and Gene for the moment, and the archer took the opportunity to make sure that the red head seated on the desk next to him was okay.

Gene paused for a second before nodding. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips. "I'm as okay as I can be. Skydiving without a parachute is not as fun as it sounds," she says laughing a bit.

Clint laughed. "I could imagine. I had to jump off of one of the skyscrappers in New York with only a trick arrow between me and the pavement."

"Really? How'd you manage to save yourself?" Gene asked with geniune curiosity.

The marksman got up from his seat and made his way to stand just in front of the girl, sensing an opportunity. "I just aimed and shot my arrow."

Gene looked up into Clint's face, her eyes burrowing into his and a small smile playing on her lips. "How did you know you would hit your target?" She asked, brushing her knee against his thigh, causing the archer to subconsciously take a step forward.

Clint smirked at Gene, placing his hands on the desk and leaning down towards her, his face just centimeters from hers. "I always get what I aim for." Their faces were so close that they could feel each other breathing, their noses touching.

"And what are you aiming for now?" Gene asked giving Clint a sinful look. Clint smirked as he leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. The two felt sparks as shivers ran down their spines. Clint ran a hand through her hair while Gene used her legs to tug him closer. The two broke apart for a second for air, a smile on each of their faces.

"Hey I got the-"

Clint and Gene quickly whipped their heads around to look at Tony who had entered the room, holding a tray full of cupcakes in his hand. Tony's face was shocked, but exploded into a cheshire cat like grin when Clint quickly moved away from Gene, trying to form a sentence, and Gene had to refrain from smirking and acting cocky, instead playing the shy and embarrassed card.

"Legolas! And all this time I thought you were gay!"

Moment destroyed, and situation officially turned awkward, Gene jumped off of the desk and looked between both men, an embarrassed smile on her face. "I'm going to be heading off to bed... goodnight you two," she said before turning on her heel and heading out the door, snatching a cupcake on her way out. As soon as she was gone Tony turned his attention to Clint who had an annoyed look on his face.

"Tony, two words: cock block."

* * *

Gene couldn't help but smirk as she made her way to her room, cupcake in hand.

Phase one of the plan had been a success, and she was hoping that they could move to the next phase of their plan soon. Of course, that would be far more difficult, but if they made the right choices, and planned it properly, it could be executed quite effectively. Everything seemed to be working flawlessly, and getting to kiss the hot archer she had her eye on made Gene's mood brighten exponentially. Of course, she was planning on toying with Clint a bit more, but kissing him was like nothing she's experienced before, and she's had more than her fair share of male companions. There was just something different about Clint, and she liked it.

Opening the door and stepping into her room, her happy mood flew out the window as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Gene frowned a bit as she looked into the darkness, before her eyes narrowed a bit. "Natasha, if you just wanted to visit me and see if I was okay, you didn't have to hide."

"Too bad that's not why I'm here"

Gene raised an eyebrow and flipped the light switch, seeing the assassin with a gun in her hands, aimed at her chest. Now, in normal situations, Gene would probably keep quiet and be very docile, much like she had done with Tony and Clint just a few moments ago... but this wasn't a normal situation, and Gene could already feel herself slipping back into the cocky Cajun attitude she normally tried to keep under wraps. Gene raised and eyebrow and smiled, sauntering forward a bit. "You know those things are dangerous, don't you?"

"Well, I know my way around a gun. And if you don't want to find out how good I am with my aim, then I suggest you sit down right there and we have a little chat," Natasha threatened, pointing towards Kitty's bed.

At the threat, however, a large cocky smirk found it's way across Gene's lips. "So you'll shoot me, huh? Now that poses the question: do you think you'll be able to pull that trigger before I knock that gun out of your hands? It would be an interesting experiment, wouldn't you think?" Natasha didn't flinch and neither did Gene, causing the young girl to laugh and take a bite of her cupcake before sitting on the bed opposite Natasha. Gene crossed her legs slowly, practically oozing nonchalance before smirking.

"Well, that could be an experiment for another day, because you're right about one thing... we need to talk."


	6. Traitors

A/N: What is it that Natasha found on the girls? What are she and Gene about to discuss? Who is trying to steal the secrets that are on the Hellicarrier? All questions that will be answered! Not all of them in this chapter, mind you, but in due time! There is going to be around 4 more chapters in this story before it is completed! There IS going to be a sequel to this story, that is still going to include the X-Men, but it will also include some very fun characters and there is going to be big twist at the end of this story to lead into the next one! But, back to the story at hand!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men: Evolution. Though I reallyyy wish I did!

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 6: Traitors

"By all means, you first," Gene spoke, gesturing to Natasha.

The assassin seemed more than happy to start speaking. "I noticed that there were a few things in your story that didn't add up, so I did a little digging, starting first with your Russian friend Piotr Rasputin. It took a while, but what I found was rather interesting," Natasha paused trying to gauge Gene's reaction. Gene raised an eyebrow, a small smile gracing her features.

"Don't leave me in suspense, what did you find?" Gene asked, with faux fascination before taking another bite of her cupcake.

Natasha narrowed her eyes the slightest bit. Gene's reactions reminded her a lot of Loki, and the Norse God was not someone she associated good thoughts with. "I found out that your friend had an interesting employer before he joined the X-Men. He worked as one of Magneto's Acolytes. His Acolytes wrecked cities, stole artifacts, and overall were up to no good. And after doing a bit more digging, I found out that he wasn't the only one. Four others to be exact, but I was only interested in two specifically; the two most known of the Acolytes. Gambit, AKA Remy LeBeau and Ruse AKA... Genevieve Renee LeBeau. Expert thieves and dangerous mutants. "

Gene smirked a bit before clapping her hands. "Congradulations Natasha. I was geninuely curious who would be the first to piece everything together." Gene took another bite of her cupcake before looking up thoughtfully. "You know, I might actually go back to being called 'Ruse'. 'Marvel Girl' just doesn't do it for me. It was Kitty's suggestion."

"What are your powers?" Natasha asked almost conversationally. Gene knew better however, and simply narrowed her eyes a bit.

"You read up about me. You should know what my powers are."

"I do. So why don't you stop trying to hide your eyes?"

Gene gave Natasha an appreciative smile before devouring the last bit of her cupcake. Dusting off her hands, Gene looked up at Natasha letting go of the control she had over her eyes, changing them from their unnatural blue to the red over black, giving her a demonic look as she stared at Natasha, startling the assassin by the way they looked. "I have my brothers eyes."

"I can see that. Now, I want to know what the hell you did to the computer systems, and what your after," Natasha demanded.

Gene's face contorted into one of confusion, before realization replaced the look. "You think we had something to do with this? You may want to go back to your research, because Piotr, John, Remy, and I turned over to the good side a few years ago. Call and ask Professor Xavier, he'll vouch for us."

"Then why did you lie about you and Kitty being mutants?" Natasha challenged.

Gene snorted. "You see how Fury treats Logan and Piotr? It's self preservation. There has been a new group of mutant haters, kinda like a KKK for mutants. They killed twenty seven of us within the past eleven days. You tell me if I had a right to lie about what I was."

Natasha mulled that over for a second before deciding that it was a reasonable explanation. She then moved on to her second question. "Who did you contact today? Like you said, I know what your powers are, so I know for a fact that you could've saved yourself if you wanted to today; you didn't need Thor or anyone to swoop in and save you. So who was it?"

"You _are_ good. I respect that," Gene said giving the assassin a genuine smile. "I contacted the others at the Xavier Institute. I discovered something while trying to fix your computer systems. Now, if you're willing to trust me, I'll explain everything I know and some theories I have as to what's going on, but you're going to have to keep what you've learned quiet and you'll be an important part of our plan. Can you do that?" Natasha narrowed her eyes a bit, before putting on her best poker face and placing the gun on the bed.

"I can do that."

* * *

As soon as Natasha left her room, Gene narrowed her eyes, making them go back to the blue color she had chosen to disguise them as. She practically sprinted out of the door and down the hallway, running into to a brick wall. Or what felt like a brick wall. Gene looked up from where she had fallen on the ground and noticed the face of the large Norse God. He smiled down at her. "Hello little one! Are you alright? You seem frightened."

Gene accepted the hand she offered and smiled at him. "No, I'm okay, thank you Thor. I'm just looking for Kitty."

"Ah, the other tiny Midgardian! She is in the lab with Bruce! Your friends Logan and Peter have retired to their sleeping quarters! Tell me, do you feel better? I understand that we were to distract you from remembering the events that occured today! Did we succeed?" Thor asked. Gene couldn't help but smile up at the childlike man. He was completely serious and genuine, a hopeful gleem in his eyes.

"Yes, you guys did great," Gene said, earning a bright smile from the God of Thunder. "Thanks Thor, I really appreciate what you did for me."

"Your thanks are not necessary, little one. You remind me much of a young child I knew back on Asgard. She was a tiny thing, much like yourself, and she was very kind. You have a large heart, and I am sure that you will be capable of great things."

Gene smiled as her chest swelled with pride before an idea hit her. "Hey Thor... can I ask you something?"

Thor grinned. "Of course Gene of Eve!"

The red-head had to refrain from laughing at the name that Thor had bestowed upon her and got back to the matter at hand. "Can you help me with something? It's gonna seem weird, but it'll help with the computer problem..."

* * *

"You're going to have to do a hell of a lot better then flowers."

Bruce laughed to himself and quickly covered it up as a cough when Clint sent a glare his way. He and Kitty had been inside of the lab, working on an experiment together. After the others had all had dessert Tony left saying he had to ask Fury's permission to make a phone call (smirking at Clint before he left for some unknown reason), Steve went to the gym after not being able to find Natasha, and Thor had left to go get some more food. Clint had disappeared to escort Piotr and Logan back to their rooms, leaving the two geniuses to work. They had been onto the testing stage of a serum they were trying to create that would be able to cause a temporary increase of certain senses, would could be useful on upcoming missions, when Clint had walked back in.

Without any hint of embarrassment (well none that Bruce saw anyway), Clint walked straight up to Kitty and asked for her help with Gene. After the laughing fit that both she and Bruce had had, Kitty had decided to take pity on Clint and help.

"How do you know that's not going to work?" Clint asked with a quirked brow.

Kitty snorted as she shook her head. "Trust me, it wont. We know a guy whose the 'King of Suave and Charm' as he likes to refer to himself. He's like an older brother to Gene, so she's seen every trick he's ever tried, and- as much as I hate to say it- he _is _the best at what he does."

"Hm... so, what do you suggest?" Clint asked.

There was a long pause in which Kitty didn't say anything before she placed a hand on her chin, propping it up on the desk. "Huh... I'm not sure actually. My best guess would be to lay on the charm as thick as you can, and not be predictable. That's about the best I can do for right now. Give me a few hours and I'll come up with better advice."

Clint thought over the information before muttering a quick 'thank you' and walking off.

Kitty and Bruce waited until he was gone before they both started laughing again. "Oh gosh, he really is into her if he's asking for help. He doesn't let anyone know anything about his personal life, so this has to be huge," Bruce snickered.

"I guess so! I wonder how that's gonna play out," Kitty laughed.

"Prideful Cat! " A loud voice bellowed, catching the attention of the two geniuses before they saw Thor walk in. Bruce smiled in amusement at Thor's attempt of getting Kitty's name right, but hid it quickly when Kitty looked at him.

Thor's eyes landed on the small girl and Bruce he smiled. "Prideful Cat! Bruce! Gene of Eve wishes to speak with you, and I am to escort you both to her!"

Bruce raised an eyebrow, and looked at Thor in confusion, but the large man just smiled at the two. He turned to ask Kitty what it was all about, but noticed a look on Kitty's face that said she knew what it was Gene wanted. Kitty slipped her arm through Bruce's before tugging him along a bit. "C'mon. This should be interesting."

* * *

Staring up at her ceiling, Natasha sighed. She had tried to head to sleep half an hour ago with no success. She had ended up tossing and turning until she was forced to think through her thoughts before any sleep would come to her. The information she had learned about Gene and Kitty being mutants had put her on edge, and Gene's attitude definitely unnerved her. Yet, the information Gene had given her seemed concise, and the girl herself seemed sincere. On the other hand, Gene was a professional thief, and a mutant who had lied about what she is. Not to mention that she had worked with her brother for Magneto.

As an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. she had an obligation to take out the threat that had presented itself in the fellow red-head. But then again Gene could be telling the truth about what was happening on the Hellicarrier. Natasha couldn't decide what to do. She was split between helping Gene, or selling her out. Either Gene was right, or she was wrong, and the choice Natasha would have to make would either help the Avengers, or help a criminal. In her gut, she was leaning towards one option, and as she thought it over and over, she knew it was the right one.

Turning over on her side she closed her eyes and made her decision. She would tell Director Fury everything in the morning.

* * *

"So, why are we moving up our plan?" Kitty asked when she was finally back in her room with Gene. The brunette girl had figured out that their plan was moving ahead when she was called to meet with Gene along with Thor and Bruce. Anytime that Gene would call a meeting, that meant that their next phase of the plan was in motion.

"Natasha knows."

That simple two worded answer got Kitty serious. Her eyebrows shot up and she stood up from her bed. Without saying anything, she immediately started scooping her hair up into a ponytail and pulling off her shoes. Gene tossed the girl a pair of scissors, which Kitty caught easily and started cutting off the leg of her sweatpants to mid-thigh, pulling off the loose fabric and tossing it on her bed. "How much time do we have?" Kitty asked curiously as she pulled her communicator out of her bag and placed it in her ear.

"Not much. It's already one in the morning, it'll take a few hours to transfer all the files, and Natasha gets up normally at around six. We're in crunch time right now. How many flash drives did you lift?"

"More than enough. I went to the supply room to get viles with Bruce, and I snagged a handful," Kitty smirked as she pulled well over ten flash drives out of her pockets.

Gene looked impressed. "Nice... of course I wouldn't have taken so much. Easier to realize something was taken, if you take more of it."

"Yes, yes, you're a super awesome thief, I know."

"Just saying," Gene commented with a smile on her face.

Kitty pocketed her flash drives again before grabbing her backpack with all of her belongings in it. "I'm going to get started. You go tell Logan and Piotr that the schedule was moved up. Get them ready, okay?"

"Got it," Gene spoke as she and Kitty both left their room, the phaser going one way and the Cajun going to other, each girl knowing what needed to get done.

* * *

It was just after six in the morning, and for some strange reason, Fury had already demanded that the Avengers meet in the meeting room. When Clint woke up, he had noticed that Natasha and Steve were both there, and that Natasha looked upset. Sure, she had her poker face on, but he had known her long enough to notice the subtle furrow in her brow, and the small downturn in her lips. Frowning, Clint sat down in the empty seat across from Natasha and the super soldier and looked at them both in confusion. "What's going on?"

"No idea," Steve answered honestly. He looked over at Fury, who was fuming, and looked back at the marksmen. "Fury doesn't seem happy though."

Thor and Bruce were the next ones to join them in the room, and lastly came Tony which was a surprise to no one. As soon as the six of them were in the room however, Fury proceeded to start screaming.

"The fuck did I say to all of you? I told you to watch them! I told you to do background checks! I told you to make sure that they were not a threat! So, I want someone to answer this question: why the fuck didn't we know that Piotr worked for Magneto?!"

The room fell into silence.

"What?" Bruce asked finding his voice first.

Fury, continued on, ignoring the fact that Bruce had just spoken. "And why, _why_ the fuck didn't we know that Gene and Kitty were mutants?!"

"They're... mutants?" Clint managed to mumble out.

Fury glared at him. "Is there an echo in here?! Stop asking stupid questions, and get the mutants here, now!"

"Sir!" Agent Hill shouted, gathering the attention of everyone in the room. "The mutants aren't in their rooms!" Fury growled.

"Everyone, find them!"

* * *

"Pick up the pace, Half-Pint," Logan ordered. He was sitting in the lower decks of the Hellicarrier, where there were computer terminals, and little to no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents crawling around. Kitty had discovered the room, on her trip to the supply room with Bruce, and she was putting her discovery to good use. The brunette girl was currently downloading the last few files onto the flash drives, while Logan, Piotr, and Gene were on the lookout, making sure no one interrupted their Shadowcat.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Kitty assured as she pulled out another flash drive and placed it into the terminal.

An alarm started to blare overhead, catching the attention of the group. "What is that?" Piotr asked in confusion.

"That is the Widow blowing the whistle on us," Gene spoke up, glaring at the ceiling. "Damn it, I didn't expect her to tattle on us that fast."

Logan put a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "How much time until your done?"

"Uh... around two minutes, tops."

"Tin-Man, take care of Kitty. Red, come with me," Logan said, extending his claws. "We're gonna be buying some time. Kitty, as soon as your done, you call in the Elf and you both get out of here, you got it?"

"What about you guys?" Kitty asked, a look over worry spreading across her features.

"Don't worry about us. Stick with the plan," Logan ordered. Bumping Gene's shoulder slightly, he caught the girls attention, and looked at with a smirk on his face. "Let's go raise some hell."

* * *

"Legolas, did you...?"

"No. I didn't know."

Tony nodded awkwardly, at the clipped tone Clint was using. The two men had been paired together to search for the four mutants running around the Hellicarrier, while Steve went with Natasha, and Thor went by himself. Bruce was back in his room, no one wanting him to go Hulk on the ship. Tony was in his Iron Man suit, clanking around, which was grating on Clint's last nerves. He was already in a foul mood as it was, and Tony's lack of stealth was about to push him over the edge. It also didn't help that Tony- seeing as he saw Clint and Gene kissing in the lab- was trying to be sympathetic.

"Hey, maybe Fury got it wrong? Gene could be-"

Clint whirled around and glared at Tony's unmasked face. "Bring it up one more time, and I will shoot you."

Tony held his arms up in surrender, but the slight widening of his eyes, got Clint on edge. He turned around and saw Logan and Gene, standing in front of them. Logan was tensed and ready to fight and Gene had an emotionless mask on her face. Tony held his hands up, ready to fire his beams if need be, and Clint had an arrow nocked and aimed at Logan. His body wouldn't allow him to aim at the red-head girl next to him. "Alright, we're going to do this nice and easy. You two need to come with us," Tony spoke up.

"We ain't going nowhere, bub," Logan growled in response, holding his claws up threateningly.

"Look, we don't have to do this," Clint spoke up, his voice tight. He noticed the look of sadness in Gene's eyes as he spoke, and a bit of hope crept into him. "We can just put our weapons down, and we can go to the meeting room and we can sit and talk about this."

"Sit down and talk?" Gene asked. "We all know that Fury is going to be out for our heads, Clint. He's not going to let us just sit and talk. I'm sorry... this is the only way for us to help you," the red-head stated, her voice shaking a bit which caught the attention of her feral stand-in father next to her. Logan could read between the lines fairly easily, and looking between Gene and Clint, he knew immediately what was going on.

"Red, get going. I can handle this," Logan ordered.

Before Gene could respond, however, a gun shot rang out, and Logan pushed his daughter to the ground, while roaring and launching himself back towards where the gunshot was fired, right into Steve and Natasha. Logan had started having it out with the super soldier, while Natasha ran out of the corridor, yelling something about finding Kitty and Piotr.

Clint, snapping into a battle mode, tensed as he aimed at Logan, who was hacking at Steve, who could do nothing but defend himself from the feral man. He however, didn't notice that Gene had gotten up from the ground, and charged at the two men. Clint saw her running up in his peripheal vision, and upon an instinct, turned his bow towards her, only to have the weapon hit up by the red-head. He felt a foot connect with his stomach as his bow was pried from his fingers, the arrow clattering to the ground, and his prized weapon being used as a bat to smack him across the face.

Clint hit the ground, pain exploding in the side of his jaw. He looked up just in time to see Tony, in full Iron Man suit, getting his ass handed to him by the small red-head. Gene had somehow managed to use Clint's bow to tangle Tony's hands before she delivered a beautifully executed spinning kick, getting Tony just on the side of the head. And just like that, Clint had a fellow friend on the ground. Had it been in any other situation, Clint would've laughed at Tony and been impressed by Gene.

"I'm sorry," Gene muttered quickly before she took off down the hall she and Logan had originally come from. Logan, retreating just after her.

"Are you two okay?" Steve called out in concern, looking torn between going to help his friends, and going after the two mutants.

"Go! Go!" Clint shouted, as he pushed himself up, and helping up a dazed Tony.

Steve nodded before sprinting after them. Tony, got up and shook his head before pulling his helmet down. "Legolas... your girlfriend's tough..."

"I'm shooting you later."

* * *

"Katya, you must hurry," Piotr said quietly as he heard the gunshots and noises of fighting close by.

Kitty nodded as she watched the last bit of the files download. She beamed as she yanked the flash drive out and handed it to Piotr to shove into her backback. "Done!" She announced before typing a few things on the computer. She turned to her boyfriend and smiled triumphantly just as Gene ran into the room, looking like she had just been fighting. "Download is complete!" Kitty told her best friend.

"Perfect, call in Kurt!" Gene ordered as Logan ran behind her.

Kitty turned on her communicator and waited for Kurt to appear, but stiffened as she heard the sounds of guns clicking. Looking around she saw Steve, Natasha, Thor, Fury, Clint and Tony all surrounding them with numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Thor had his hammer in hand, Clint had his bow, and Tony had his hands glowing. Kitty backed up into Piotr, who had gone into his metal form, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders protectively. A 'bamf' just to her left startled her, and seemed to startle everyone else, seeing as guns had been fired. Kurt had latched onto both Kitty and Piotr and began to teleport.

Time seemed to slow as bullets bouncing off Piotr's back drowned out anything elses in the room. Kitty's eyes widened as she realized that Gene and Logan were halfway across the room, Logan throwing his body protectively over the girl, as gun shots rang out... no where near Kurt. "NO!" Kitty shrieked, too late. Kurt had teleported, and she and Piotr had found themselves back in the mansion, looking at the anxious faces of their friends. The one face that she saw first, was the opeful and frantic one she really didn't want to see. Remy.

"Chaton! Petey! Where's..." Remy trailed off as he saw the look on Kitty's face.

"Gene and Logan got left behind..."

* * *

"Cease fire!" Fury ordered as the cloud of blue smoke cleared, and Kitty and Piotr had disappeared. All gun fire stopped as Fury, Natasha, Agent Hill, and Clint all stepped closer into the center of the room, close to where Logan was screaming as bullets fell out of his skin, and the wounds healed, leaving nothing but trails of blood. "Romanoff, Barton."

Nodding, both assassins moved towards the two mutants huddled on the floor. Clint roughly pulled Logan off of the ground, slapping a pair of handcufs on his wrists and grabbing onto his shoulder tightly, applying more force than really necessary out of his own frustration at seeing Natasha hauling Gene to her feet. Gene had narrowed her eyes as she glanced into the eyes of her fellow red-head, a slight twitch in her eyebrow. "Surveillez vos arrieres, Veuve Noire," Gene hissed with venom in her voice.

"Keep your comments to your damn self," Fury ordered as he glared at the young teen. "Barton, Romanoff, take them to the interrogation block. They may not have talked before, but they will now. Do whatever you need to, to get them to talk."


	7. Interrogations Take 2

A/N: Uh-oh! Logan and Gene have been captured by the Avengers and are about to be interrogated once again! With one more day until the clock runs down, will the two mutants break under the intense interrogation tactics of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Will they find out who the mole on the Hellicarrier is? And what of Kitty and Piotr and the rest of the X-Men? Surely, the friends of the two captured X-Men are going to be out for blood! What's going to happen? Sorry this chapter is going to be a bit short, but the next one will be longer, promise!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men!

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 7: Interrogations Take 2

"Chaton, where is Genevieve?" Remy asked again, the hopeful look vanishing from his features as he stepped forward from the group of X-Men surrounding Kitty and Piotr. Warren, Rogue, Wanda, John, Kurt, Bobby, Amara, and some of the younger students were standing around in a circle around the arrivals. At Remy's step forward, they all stepped back with the exception of Rogue, Wanda, Warren, and John, all who could handle a pissed off Remy. Kitty merely shook her head, causing Remy to ask again. "Chaton."

"Comrade, Genevieve was left behind on the ship along with Logan," Piotr spoke up for his girlfriend.

Remy's eyes narrowed. "You left 'er?"

"Not by choice, Remy," Kitty said. "We were surrounded and everyone was shooting and-"

"You left ma lil belle etoile outnumbered in the middle of a shoot-out?!" Remy roared, going from 'mildly pissed' to over the 'deep end' in less than two seconds.

"Everyone back to their rooms," Warren ordered to the younger kids, seeing how their little conference was going to turn out. When no one moved, Warren growled. "Now." Soon everyone scattered to their rooms, leaving just Piotr, Remy, Kitty, Warren, John, Wanda, and Rogue. Warren cast a glance at Rogue and Wanda before he spoke again. "You two, out now."

"Excuse me?" Wanda exclaimed.

"We have a right ta be here! Gene is like a sistah to us!" Rogue complained

Warren didn't bat an eyelash. "So I'll tell you when we get anything. Back to your rooms and keep the younger ones at bay."

After a stare down, Rogue and Wanda reluctantly headed back upstairs to make sure that everyone wasn't going to try and use their various powers to eavesdrop on what was happening. As soon as the two girls were gone, Warren walked in front of Remy to pull Kitty to the sofa, knowing that Piotr would follow after. With both of them sitting on the piece of furniture, he gestured for Remy and John to join them, the former doing so while uttering strings of curses in both english and french. "Kitty, Peter, explain what happened."

"You're about to get hit with the shortened version, because we don't have a lot of time. Pretty much S.H.I.E.L.D. had some computer problems to deal with, so they called in Gene and I to take care of it. Peter and Logan wouldn't leave our sides, so they came with us. Somehow they found out that the guys were mutants but thought we were normal, so we kept up with our work, until we found something weird in the computers. Someone is trying to steal secret files, we're trying to save it, but the Black Widow found out we were mutants, told on us, and now everyone thinks _we_ are trying to steal the files. Gene and I came up with a plan to help them and to prove we weren't theives," Kitty explained in one breath.

"How did ya plan on doin' that?" John asked curiously.

"We stole the files."

"Let me guess? Genevieve's plan?" Remy guessed, his anger slowly getting back in check.

"Yup."

"It is a brilliant plan," Piotr added, as if it could change the fact that they were stealing the files to prove they _weren't_ the ones who wanted to steal the files.

"It's circular logic," Warren deadpanned.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Well, if you listen to the rest of the plan, you wouldn't think so and we wouldn't be wasting time that could be used to prepare our rescue."

"There's a 'rest' to this plan?" Remy questioned.

"Yes, and if you listen to it, then Remy you'll be able to see Gene within the next twelve hours."

"I'm listenin'."

Kitty nodded. "Alright, we really only need this amount of people to make this plan work, so here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

"Red, next time you want to head to a party, just know that I'm going to lock you in your room."

"Noted."

The two mutants were in a large room with high ceilings and flickering lights, black walls, a table with various chairs, and only one door. Both of them were strapped down into a chair by their arms and legs, with metal 'Hulk proof' material. The were the only ones in the room and were waiting for their second round of interrogations to begin. And seeing as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents all were out for blood, their interrogations weren't going to be as nice as when they first stepped onto the ship. The doors to the room opened and in walked Fury, accompanied by four large S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that neither Logan nor Gene had met before. By the looks of them though, they had to be the first wave of interrogators.

"Tying people down? I've got to say Fury, I normally don't do this sort of thing until at least the fifth date," Gene spoke up, earning a raised eyebrow from Logan (meaning that she would be having a long talk with him later about her dating habits when they got out of their situation) and a pointed glare from Fury.

"You don't get to sass us," Fury growled.

Logan let out a loud laugh. "Sass is the only thing you'll get out of that girl. She doesn't take to kindly to being manhandled."

"And I don't take too kindly to traitors."

The four men moved forward; two to stand in front of Logan and the other two in front of Gene. "Now, while we're on the subject of traitors, we've recently had four running amuck on our ship."

"Four traitors huh? Guess S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to raise the bar on their hiring practices," Gene smirked. The comment earned her a backhanded slap from one of the larger men behind her. As soon as his hand connected, Logan had shouted and started struggling against his restraints, only to be pulled back by the two men behind him. Gene merely narrowed her eyes and glared up at the man who hit her before turning her gaze to Fury. "So, I take it, the oafs are here to get us to talk, huh?"

"That's the plan," Fury stated, a grin on his face.

Logan growled. "Fury, let her go, she's not the one you want!"

"And _you_ are?" Fury challenged. He stalked up to Logan with a sadistic smirk on his face. "You aren't anything to us. You're just the bodyguard. Now _her_... she's the one who caused this computer problem. She's the one who knows all about this, and she's the one whose going to fix it."

_"She's_ also sitting right here," Gene piped up.

"Don't worry... you'll get to spilling your guts soon enough. Boys... tender them up a bit to make them more compliant." As soon as the order was uttered, the two men started punching both of the mutants, aiming for their torsos mainly, but alternating some face shots in there. Logan didn't really seem to care, seeing as he could heal instantly, but his main concern was on Gene, whose face was starting to get bloodied by the punches of the two agents.

"Leave her alone!" Logan roared, trying to break free, only getting another punch to the jaw as a reward.

Fury waited for a few more seconds before he held his hands up. Immediately the assault ceased. The men moved away and Logan stared at the cut bleeding from Gene's cheek that was sure to bruise, the steady stream of blood dripping down from a cut below her eyebrow, and the splits in her lips. He had an internal panic attack when he saw her spit out some blood, but relaxed when he saw the cocky gleam in her eyes, and the big smirk on her face as she looked at the men.

"You hit like a bitch. Seriously, _Bobby_ hits harder than you do. That's sad."

And that elicited a roar of laughter from Logan.

The thugs didn't seemed to be as amused as the two mutants did, but Fury ignored them and instead turned his attention to the red-head in the room. "What did you and Kitty do to our computer systems? How did you get into our systems when you weren't even on our ship yet? What do you want?"

"Well, first off, it wasn't me who hacked your systems. Secondly, you can't get into your systems if you're not physically on the ship- take a moment to digest that bit of information- and lastly, what I want is to be let out of these restraints, kick someones ass, and then be on my merry way. Maybe get a burger..."

"Don't lie to me!" Fury shouted, getting up in the girls face.

Gene looked him straight in the eye. "You want the truth?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Fury nodded and she sighed.

"Fine. The truth is... you _really_ need a breath mint. One word: halitosis."

Another backhand was the only response Fury gave to that comment. He stood up straight and adjusted his jacket before nodding. "Alright... I see you want to do things the hard way. I was trying to be nice, by letting you guys stay in the same room- a show of good faith. But now I see that as long as you two are together, you wont be very cooperative. Logan, will just encourage your snarky behavior, and vice versa. So, say goodbye. It'll be a while before you see each other again."

Gene looked across at Logan in shock, before she started screaming as he was being dragged away by the four men. "Where are you taking him?! Stop! Leave him alone!"

"Don't say a word, Red! Not a single word!" Logan ordered. "I'll get you out before you know it!" He said just before he was dragged completely out of the door, with Fury walking out behind him. The door slammed close and Gene was all alone.


	8. Rescue Attempts

A/N: So, what's the plan that Kitty had to rescue Logan and Gene? Where did Fury take Logan and what do they plan to do with him? And who is going to try their hand at interrogations next? In this chapter we'll get to see what angry X-Men do when their friends and siblings are threatened, and some interesting conversations between some of the Avengers and their captives. Plus a note, this story has only like two more chapters left after this one, and the last one is going to be short!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men... sadly.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 8: Rescue Attempts

Gene looked around the room before letting her head fall back, as she closed her eyes. She knew Logan could handle himself, and that he would make good on his promise to get her out. Now, she had to play the waiting game.

But she was so tired of being patient. She wanted to be back at the Institute, making fun of Captain 'Stick-Up-The-Ass' also known as Scott, arguing with Rogue and Kitty about which movies to watch during their 'sister' bonding time. She wanted to go back to all day slumber parties with the girls of the Institute, she wanted to talk with Ororo about the people she had met, and she wanted to hang out and cause some trouble with John, Piotr, and Remy. But most of all, she wanted to see Remy.

Remy had always been there for Gene, no matter what. He was her partner in crime, her protector, her shoulder to cry on. He was her rock. Even after getting orphaned at young ages by their parents because of their demonic looking eyes, Remy always made it his number one priority to make sure that Gene was safe, and that they were always together. He wouldn't go anywhere without his sister, and he knew she felt the same. They were the only family they had. And then, they had gotten adopted into a Thieves Guild. Remy had caught onto the tricks of the trade with impressive speed, while she lagged behind, but he always took extra time to practice with her, to make sure she kept pace. Even after they had discovered their powers, Remy had made sure to teach her how to control her gifts, while he tried to hone his own. They had been through so much together, and even ended up two of Magneto's five Acolytes. Of course, they ended up adding onto their makeshift family by adding Piotr and John to the mix, but still they were the ones they turned to for everything.

And not having her brother there was depressing Gene. She could even almost hear him calling her...

"Ma belle etoile."

Gene lifted her head up to look at the man in front of her, half expecting to see her brother standing before him. The man in front of her wasn't Remy, but it _was_ someone that made her heart flip. "Clint."

Clint flinched the slightest bit at the way she said his name, and the intensity in her stare, but did his best to cover it up. He walked over to the table behind Gene's chair and grabbed one of his own, dragging it over before placing it in front of hers. He sat down and flipped through the various pages in the file in his hands. He could feel her eyes on him, and had to do his very best not to meet her gaze. Instead he continued flipping pages, to waste a few minutes. Finally, he closed the file and looked back up at her, grabbing a medical kit he had brought in from the ground by his chair, and started cleaning her cuts. "What does it mean?"

"What does what mean?" Gene asked seriously, an eyebrow raised as he applied antiseptic to the cut on her cheek, causing her to wince a bit.

"That phrase. 'Ma belle etoile.' What does it mean?" Clint asked, geniunely curious, moving on to the cut above her eye. That one was still bleeding, so he focused on bandaging it up while waiting for the red-head to speak.

Gene smiled a bit before answering. "It means 'my beautiful star'. That's what my brother calls me."

"Your brother," Clint started before pausing in his work and pulling out a picture from the file. It was a picture of her and Remy, both in their uniforms, standing side by side on a destroyed looking street. Gene wore a uniform that was a female version of her brothers, with a similarly colored black and purple spandex cat suit, black combat boots, a brown rib-length cropped jacket, with the cuffs rolled up to the elbow and the collar popped, black gloves, and a metal Bo staff in her hands. Remy was in his standard uniform, with a deck of charged cards floating out in front of him. "Tell me about him."

Gene narrowed her eyes a bit. "I'm not going to let you guys try and use my brother-"

"Not power wise," Clint cut her off as he placed the picture on Gene's lap. He gave her a small smile and shrugged, going back to taking care of her injuries. "Just... what's he like. Was he a good older brother? Did he torment you as kids? Normal stuff."

Gene raised an eyebrow for a moment before she studied Clint's features. His brow was furrowed the slightest bit, the corner of his lips seemed as if they wanted to turn down, and there was a definite sadness in his eyes. However, he seemed to be sincere in his questioning and focused on his task, so she decided to answer. "Remy was a great brother. He took care of me, made sure we had somewhere to sleep, had food to eat. Sure, we had our moments where we wanted to kill each other, but other than that, Remy was really awesome."

"What did you guys like doing?"

Gene thought about that for a second before laughing a bit. "Remy and I loved karaoke. We would always have such a blast. Especially when Remy had gotten drunk and was trying to get through a Keith Urban song."

"Singing huh? You any good?"

"I'm okay."

"Maybe you can sing a bit for me now?" Clint asked.

Gene was about to open her mouth to say 'no' before she started thinking. She looked down at the picture in her lap before looking back up at the marksman in front of her. "Why are you asking me these questions, Clint?"

"I want to figure out why you lied to me." That answer hit Gene in the gut. The amount of raw emotion he was able to convey in a short ten word sentence made a knot form inside of the mutants stomach. Clint finished up cleaning the blood on her lips, and put away the med-kit before his eyes met hers for the first time during their conversation. "I'm not sure if it was a family thing, or if Professor X put you up to it, or if you're back to working for Magneto again, but I want to know why you did what you did. Do you just get a kick out of hacking into computer systems, and toying with people's emotions?"

"Clint-"

"Agent Barton will be fine."

Gene flinched a bit at that. She sighed before shaking her head. "It wasn't like that. I never hacked your computer systems. Like I told Fury, Kitty and I are geniuses, but even we can't do that. It would take twenty years with a super computer to do that without proper access codes, which _you_ provided us when we agreed to help. And I didn't toy with your emotions. Everthing I said and did with you was because _I_ wanted to. Because I..."

"Because you what?"

"I have feelings for you," Gene admitted.

"Funny way of showing them. Lying about who you are, and what you wanted from me? Betraying my trust? Yeah, those feelings are pretty strong," Clint hissed a bit, letting the sting he felt at her betrayal become known.

Gene may have been partially in the wrong for some things, but she was not willing to just sit there and let Clint snap at her like that. She glared at him and snorted. "I did what I had to do to make sure my friends and I were safe. We didn't _have_ to help you with your computers, but we chose to."

"You should've told me."

"Told you what?" Gene snapped back.

Clint glared. "You should've told me what you were. I wouldn't have cared, I would've tried to help."

Gene laughed and shook her head. She had heard this over and over again from so many different people, it was almost comical. "So it wouldn't have made a difference huh?" Gene asked. She didn't even wait for Clint's response, switching her eye color back to her natural demonic eyes. Clint's eyes widened and he flinched back, his hand resting on the gun at his hip. Gene took note of his reaction and changed her eye color back to blue, her eyes watering with unshed tears. "That's what I thought."

"Gene, I didn't-" Clint started but was cut off by an angry glare.

"Save it. I've heard it already. One of the reasons we didn't tell anyone was because of self preservation. The other... because I'm tired of people looking at me like that. I'm not a demon, I'm not a freak, and I don't want to be treated like it. And right now, I really don't want to deal with your guilt trips because you don't understand why I didn't tell you," Gene said, tears falling from her eyes. "I already trusted one of you, and look where that-"

"What?" Clint asked in confusion. The red-head seemmed to be equally as confused until Clint rephrased himself. "What do you mean you already trusted one of us?"

Gene used her shoulder to rub away at the tears on her cheek before shaking her head. "How do you think we got caught?" Clint's expression was the same, and Gene sat up straighter raising an eyebrow. "She didn't tell you... did she?" Gene asked before forcing a laugh. "You know what, you talk to me about trust issues, but why don't you go and talk to the Black Widow. Ask _her_ why she didn't blow the whistle on us more than seven hours ago when I told her what was going on. Have her tell you. See what she says."

Clint frowned and was about to ask a question, but could tell that Gene would have none of it. Her face was turned away from him and her jaw was tensed. Instead, he got up from his chair, grabbing the file and med kit, and decided to heed the girls' advice and talk to Natasha.

* * *

"Understood... Black Widow out."

"Who was that?"

Natasha, having already sensed someone behind her, didn't bother jumping as she calmly turned around and looked towards an upset looking Clint entering the storage unit she had been inside of, gathering supplies for both Logan and Gene's containment rooms. "Fury. Wanted an update. What's with you?" She asked, looking worriedly at her best friend.

Natasha watched as his face went from upset, to pensive, to uncertain, to hurt, and then starting the whole cycle over again. She went about gathering the appropriate trays, cups, and utensils that would be used to feed the two mutants in their holding cells. Clint would begin talking when he was ready, so she kept herself occupied as she waited. Finally, after a few moments of silence, Clint began speaking. "I went to see Gene."

"And I take it that didn't go too well?" Natasha asked, while she internally was a bit surprised. Why would Clint talk to her after just finishing up talking to Gene?

"Nat, did you know about what they were?" Clint asked, completely disregarding her question.

Natasha immediately set the items in her hands down and turned to look at her fellow assassin with a raised eyebrow. So, _this_ was what it was about. She thought through her words carefully before responding, making sure she wasn't going to give anything away that wasn't supposed to leave her mouth just yet. "Yes, I found out last night."

Clint looked confused. "Why didn't you tell anyone? What did she even say? She told me that she trusted one of us, and to ask you what happened."

"She told you that?" Natasha asked seriously. At Clint's nod, she did the same. "Alright, let's go somewhere to talk. It's going to-"

Natasha never got the chance to finish her sentence as explosions were heard in some of the higher decks of the ships. A red alarm started blaring as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents started running down the halls. Clint and Natasha immediately ran out and grabbed the first person they could. "What the hell is going on here?" Clint asked quickly.

"The X-Men! They're attacking the Hellicarrier!"

* * *

"Hell of a plan Chaton!"

"We're going in guns blazing!" Warren shouted over to Remy, who was having far too much fun sadistically throwing charged up playing cards at the array of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Of course, Remy didn't intend to actually injury them, just scare them. But still, the mutant was having a ball making them run for cover.

"Which is why I really like dis plan."

Kurt had just transported them all back onto the outside deck of the ship before teleporting away (as per Kitty's instructions). No sooner than five seconds after they touched down, Remy and John had started wreaking Havoc. Remy with his sadistic game of 'Exploding Tag', and John singing 'Burn Baby Burn' as he shot flames out at the various agents (taking care to make sure that no one got severely injured), laughing like a maniac at some points. Warren and Piotr were just standing around, waiting for Kitty to give them instructions while she played around on some computer gadget.

"Got them!" Kitty announced, a grin on her face. "Logan is in the 12th deck down in containment room 5, while Gene is in containment room 27! We're going to have to split up!"

Warren nodded. "Piotr, John, with me! We're going to find Logan. Kitty you go with Remy and get Gene!" Kitty nodded as she tossed the computer to Warren with the directions, as the group parted ways. Piotr had gone into his metal form and started barreling past the various S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, making a path for Warren and John to follow behind.

Warren shook his head as he internally wondered how he had gotten roped into the situation. Of course, he was worried about Gene and Logan, but why did that mean _he_ had to be the one running through a government ship, blowing shit up, with two of the most psycho former Acolytes, heading in to rescue another- equally tempermental- Acolyte. Especially when the mutant man behind him was shooting fires screaming 'BURN MY PRETTIES, BURN!'. It really didn't elicite confidence in the people he was working with.

"There should be an elevator up ahead!" Warren spoke as he looked at the computerized map in his hands. The elevator Warren was talking about, was completely full of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Nick Fury and Agent Hill. Knowing that Piotr would never purposely harm that many civilians just trying to do their job, Warren (against his better judgement) turned to look behind him. "John! Clear a path!"

An elated look graced the Aussie's features as he stepped in front, shooting fire at the group of agents.

"Take cover!" Fury shouted as he grabbed Maria and pulled her out of the way as the various agents dove to the ground. The three mutants continued their charge, climbing into the elevator and hitting the number 12.

Fury growled as he got to his feet and reached for a radio on his hips. "Avengers! They're heading towards Logan and Gene! Captain, Thor, and Iron Man, Cut them off! Keep Bruce in the lab, and I want Romanoff and Barton with me!"

* * *

While the others mounted a forward attempt to rescue their fellow mutants, Kitty opted for grabbing onto the Cajun and phasing them all the way through to the twelth floor. They landed in an supply closet, with two sets of food trays laid out. Remy put a hand in front of the girl and pushed her protectively against the wall as he peeked out the door. Grinning he nodded to her and stopped to grab a set of forks and knives.

"Why are you talking those?" Kitty questioned in a whisper as they started to slowly creep down the hallway.

"Dey are good ta charge."

Kitty rolled her eyes as they continued on. They walked along for a little over thirty seconds, occasionally ducking into empty rooms, before they came up to a large steel door with the number 27 placed on the front. Kitty looked to Remy and nodded. "This is it." That was all Remy needed to hear. He placed both his hands on the door, charging it til it was a magenta color before backing up and ducking for cover with Kitty, making sure the tiny girl was protected. The door exploded and Remy heard a yelp coming from in the room. With hesitating a second he turned and ran into the room, disregarding the cloud of smoke or debris on the floor. His eyes landed in the center of the room, where strapped into a seat, looking beaten and upset, was Genevieve. As soon as her eyes met his, they changed back to their normal black and red instead of the blue she normally used to hide her identity.

"Mon rocher!" (1)

At her words, Remy's entire body felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He ran forward and dropped to the ground in front of her, charging the restraints on her chairs slightly, freeing her, before pulling her into his hug. He stroked her hair and had to fight back tears of joy as he finally had his sister back with him. "Ma belle etoile... êtes-vous d'accord?" (2)

"Douloureux, mais-" (3)

"Uh... hey, English speaker in the room?"

Both Cajuns turned to look at Kitty standing awkwardly by the door, completely confused by what the two siblings had just said. Remy shook his head and Gene laughed as the two stood up, Remy making sure to help his sister, who was clearly injured. He kept his anger in check for the time being, but made a mental note to kill someone later. "I was just askin' if she was alright."

"No time for that now, we need to focus," Gene reminded the two, wincing as she moved in an odd way. "Damn, I think they actually bruised a rib. Asses."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "We'll deal with them later, right now we need to-"

A dart flying across the room and landing in the phaser's neck halted the conversation. "Kitty!" Both Remy and Gene screamed as they saw Kitty go to touch her neck, before her eyes fluttered shut and she collapsed on the ground. Turning they turned and saw Natasha entering the room, her gun drawn, the weapon trained on Remy and Gene. Fury and Barton entered right behind her, also aiming at the two siblings.

No one spoke.

Without warning, Fury shot at Remy. Gene moved in front of her brother and raised her hand up towards where the dart was heading. Her hand glowed magenta as the dart turned to ashes before it even hit her hand. The shocked expressions of all the agents in the room gave Remy enough time to pull out the utensils he had swiped and hurl them at the three offenders. The room filled with smoke once again as Remy ran to scoop up Kitty before he and Gene made a break for the door. The got down the hallway before skidding to a stop seeing the other members of the Avengers turn the corner, with an unconscious Piotr, John, and Warren being dragged behind them.

"Please stop. We don't want to hurt you," Steve said calmly.

"Gene of Eve! Cease your actions! I am well aware that you are innocent, but trying to escape shall be of no service to you!" Thor spoke up in his loud voice, looking quite certain that Gene was innocent.

Tony nodded behind his mask. "Point break's right. Go quietly kid."

"What's it going to be?"

Remy and Gene turned around to see Fury standing behind them, with Clint and Natasha on either side of him. Gene's eyes met Clint's and her entire expression changed from one of anger and worry, to one of sadness when she saw that he didn't flinch back at her eye color. He merely looked back at her, pleading with her not to do something stupid. She looked up at Remy who was reminiscent of a caged animal and placed a hand on his shoulder. Remy looked down at her, saw the expression she had on his face, and relaxed slightly. "Mon rocher... this is not a battle we should be fighting."

"Mais, Genevieve..." Remy spoke. The two seemed to have a silent conversation as the Avengers merely watched, waiting to see what would happen and admiring the powerful connection the two siblings before them had. After a minute Remy sighed and placed Kitty gently down on the ground before raising his hands in the air. Gene followed his example and did so while squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high.

"Marvelous," Fury said before shooting a dart into Gene's neck. The girl's eyes widened in shock for a second before she collapsed to the ground. Remy roared but soon succumbed to the same fate as his sister, all the mutants in the hallway falling into a world of darkness.

* * *

"...Katya... Katya can you hear me?"

Kitty groaned as her head cleared and she started to become aware of her surroundings. Looking around she saw Piotr directly above her, with Warren and John nearby, with Remy banging on a clear wall. Sitting up she realized she was in the newly rebuilt 'Hulk Room' that she had seen during her tour of the Hellicarrier. Shaking her head she looked at the other boys in confusion. "How long have I been out?"

"About four hours, sheila," John answered.

"Three hours?" Kitty questioned in shock.

Piotr nodded. "You are much smaller than us in stature, so the drugs had a longer lasting effect on you. We were quite worried." That, of course, was his way of saying he was freaking out on massive levels. Kitty smiled and pat his shoulder slightly before looking to the other boys again.

"So what happened?"

"We got caught," Warren deadpanned.

Kitty looked utterly surprised. "You're kidding me? We got caught?" At the nods of the men, she shook her head again and laughed as an incredibly pleased smile graced her features. "Perfect. Now all we have to do is wait for our inside man."

"Inside man?" Remy asked in confusion.

The doors to the room their cell was in slid open, catching everyone's attention. The figure of the person stepping through the door took everyone by surprise. Kitty merely smirked as she got to her feet and walked over to the wall, getting a better look at their accomplice. "So, it's time already?"

"Yes, now if you're quite done napping Sleeping Beauty, we'll get ready to act."

* * *

Really? Back in the chair again? Gene thought to herself as she woke to find herself strapped back into the chair in the empty, dark room once again. Her mind immediately wandered to her brother and friends, wondering if they were alright. She also toyed with the mental image of what Logan would do when he figured out what had happened to his X-Kids. The image in her head was a very bloody one, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Her stomach growled as she started to wonder when the last time she ate was. Or what time it was in general. Either one would suffice.

The door to the room slid open.

"Hey, what's a girl got to do to get some food-" Gene started before cutting herself off and cocking her head to the side. The man who stepped through the door was tall with light brown hair and blue eyes. He had a stocky build and had a sickening smile on his face. She tried to place his face, but knew she didn't know him. She took note of the large bucket he dragged in behind him, that seemed to slosh with water, and a few rags he had sticking out of the back of his pocket. Gene didn't need to be specially trained to know what that all added up to.

Waterboarding.

"I don't believe we met," Gene spoke up, her voice full of venom.

The man shook his head, his smile still plastered on his face. "No, we haven't, but we'll get to know eachother very soon. As for right now, you've been quite the thorn in my side my dear..."

* * *

(1) My rock! (Gene's nickname for her brother, like Remy's is 'my beautiful star')

(2) My beautiful star... are you okay?

(3) Sore, but-


	9. Geniuses

A/N: Hope you guys liked the last chapter! We got to see that there is an inside man! GASP! Who could it possibly be? And who's the guy coming to talk to Gene? What does he want to know? And what is the plan that Kitty has? And, as I'm sure you all know, this is the second to the last chapter of this story! This one is going to be a bit on the long side, but the next chapter is going to be very short. Like maybe underneath 1000 words short! Also, there is going to be an annoying amount of flashbacks in this chapter. Please try and bear with me! Just so you all know, as soon as this story is over I do plan on making a sequel, which I hope you all like!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers or X-Men.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 9: Geniuses

Steve stared into his cup of coffee with a blank expression as he thought about all that had happened within a span of twelve hours. Kitty and Gene, who seemed to be genuinely sweet girls, had betrayed them. They had tried to steal the files on the Hellicarrier and brought in an extraction team of mutants to try and finish the job when they got caught. It was hard for the super soldier to believe, seeing as he had come to like the two girls that were supposed to be helping them. Maybe… no. There could be no reason that Steve could think of that would be logical enough for Kitty and Gene to betray them. Sighing at the thoughts he was having, Steve took a large gulp of his coffee just as Tony and Thor walked in.

"You look like crap," Tony said halfheartedly as he plopped down in a seat beside Steve, his armor clanking loudly. Tony's faceplate was down and it was obvious that Steve wasn't the only one that was feeling down because of what happened. Thor sat down in front of the two men, a confused look on his face. It seemed as if the demigod wasn't sure why they were looking so distraught.

"What troubles you, Man of Iron? Captain?" Thor asked curiously.

Tony turned to look at Thor with a quirked eyebrow. "Didn't you notice what was going on Point Break? We just got betrayed by people we trusted. That normally puts us Earthlings in a bit of a funk."

"Betrayed! Who has betrayed us?" Thor exclaimed in shock.

Steve and Tony shared a look, wondering if Thor was really that dense or if he was just acting. Tony gave a 'you handle this' look to Steve, prompting the super soldier to explain to the Asgardian. "Thor, Kitty and Gene betrayed us. They tried hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. systems to steal our files, and pretended that they were here to help to get a better opportunity."

Thor's eyebrows furrowed. "Nonsense! Prideful Cat and Gene of Eve have not betrayed us!"

"Uh, yeah they kinda did."

"Lies! Who speaks such lies? They were merely trying to assist us!" Thor assured.

Tony crossed his arms awkwardly seeing as he was still in his suit. "Really? How is stealing our files helping?"

Thor was silent for a moment, his face growing pensive as he started to look like a lost puppy. After a few seconds of silence the demigod shook his head and looked up with a determined expression on his face. "No, they were trying to assist us! I shall prove it! Come, follow me!" Thor exclaimed as he stood up and started heading for the door. Tony and Steve looked at each other then back at Thor, who was planted firmly by the door, and didn't look like he would be moving until they followed him. Tony downed Steve's cup of coffee (much to the protest of the super soldier) before he stood up and walked towards the demigod.

"What the hell. Let's see what Goldilocks has to say."

* * *

Bruce had been in his room locked up for what seemed like an eternity. Sure, he knew it was only a few hours, but it was still boring. Even with his work, he was starting to get bored just staring at a computer screen for who knows how long. His task was a boring one, but he knew it was among the most important ones. So, he continued to stare at the computer screen, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A knock on his door, pulled his attention away as the door slid open and Clint walked in with a tray of food in his hands. "I brought your dinner."

"Feeding time in prison already?" Bruce asked sarcastically.

Clint snorted and walked into the room, placing the food on the edge of the desk Bruce was working on. "Fury just doesn't want you to have a run-in with one of the mutants and hulk out. Natasha is still traumatized from that, remember?"

Bruce winced. "I try not to." The two stood in silence for a moment before Bruce looked at Clint, noticing the serious expression he had. "I know it's none of my business, but how are you doing? You know, with what's happening."

"I'm fine."

"Now, who do you really think buys that?"

Clint sighed and shook his head. "How am I supposed to be holding up? The evidence is there, but I just can't fully believe that she- that _they_ would betray us like that. They just didn't seem like they would be the type of people to do that."

Bruce nodded and mentally noted Clint's slip up, but internally was debating what to say. Finally deciding, he gave Clint a small smile. "This probably isn't going to help or mean much, but I think you should just go with your gut on this one. If you don't think they could've done this, then dig a little deeper. Find something that doesn't belong. If you think they did, then just do what you have to."

Clint pondered that piece of advice before he nodded and smiled a bit. "Thanks Bruce, I really-"

"Green One!"

The door to Bruce's room slid open and in walked Thor, with Tony and Steve in tow. "When did my room become a lounge?" Bruce asked with a raised brow as he looked towards the three new occupants of his room. Clint had a similar expression on his face as he looked at the three men.

Steve held his hands up in the air. "Not our choice."

"Yeah, talk to Goldilocks over there. He's the one who brought us here."

Bruce paled a bit, knowing where this was going. "Thor, you're not supposed to be here right now."

"Green One, the Captain and the Man of Iron speak lies of Prideful Cat and Gene of Eve! We must tell them what we have been told!"

Clint's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Bruce. "What have you been told?" Bruce face palmed and sighed before he looked up at the four men staring at him, Thor looking at him expectantly.

"Thor, I'm going to have to talk to you later about what the word 'covert' means."

* * *

After his skin had healed for what seemed like the hundredth time within the past ten minutes, Logan started to get bored with the whole routine. His interrogators would hit him, he would heal, they would ask a question, he was insult them, and then they would hit him again. At first it had been fun, seeing as Logan had been full of insults he had been waiting to say, and the idiots were giving him the perfect opportunity to use them, but after a while, they just started to get on his nerves.

"What did you do to the systems?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Alright, this is getting boring. I already told you, I don't use computers. How the hell would I know?" Another punch. "Well, what a shock."

The two interrogators pressed something in their ears before they growled and turned to walk away. "We'll be back." One of them muttered, before they walked out. Logan rolled his eyes. He sat in his chair, tied up, for about a minute before he started to wonder whether it wouldn't be as dull if the interrogators were back in the room.

A high pitched noise assaulted his ear drums for the slightest of seconds before it stopped. Narrowing his eyes, Logan sat up straighter and had a determined look on his face. It seemed like the plan was about to be set into motion.

"About damn time."

* * *

"First meetings usually warrant introductions," Gene spoke up as she watched the man in front of her start to open the large bucket, and take the rags out of his back pocket. The man paused to look up at her with a sick smile on his face. He pulled out a chair from the table he was placing his tools on, before sitting down in front of her.

"Quite right, where are my manners? My name is Jason Reeds."

"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you Jason, but given our current situation, I think you and I both know I wouldn't mean it," Gene spoke up, narrowing her eyes a bit. "I take it you know who I am?"

"Yes, indeed I do. Miss Genevieve Renee LeBeau, mutant extraordinaire. I honestly didn't believe that when I got this task, I'd have to deal with mutants. Thought it was going to be a boring job. Figured it would be quick and easy; in and out," Jason spoke as he stood up from his chair and started stretching out the rag in his hand. "Then I find out that the Avengers- who were supposed to still be separated mind you- and Wolverine and Colossus are on this ship with you and Kitty Pryde, computer experts and mutants. Ooh, can you imagine how that complicated things?" Jason asked conversationally as he tied the rag tightly around Gene's face, despite her thrashing and shouting. "I know, I know. Complications come with the job, right?" Jason lifted up the bucket of water and started pouring some of it over the girls' face. Gene started screaming; coming out as strangled gasps and gurgles as the water flowed over her face. Jason kept the water flowing for a few more seconds before he put the bucket back down. He crouched down to be closer to Gene's ear before whispering to her. "Now, speaking of complications… what did you and Miss Pryde do to the computer systems?"

Jason pulled the rag off of Gene's face allowing the girl to spit water out of her mouth and take a breath of air. As soon as she got her breathing back under control, she whipped her head around to glare at Jason, demonic eyes burrowing into his. To his credit, Jason didn't flinch back. He merely stared back at her and gave her a small smile. "Miss LeBeau, I've tangled with much worse than you before. Your eyes don't scare me. Now, back to the question at hand, shall we? What is wrong with the computer systems?"

"Did you try clicking the refresh button?"

Jason looked less than amused. He quickly tied the rag back over Gene's mouth before pouring water back over her face, screaming and gurgling being heard as she thrashed around, desperately trying to get her hands and legs free. He put the bucket back down and pulled the rag off of her face again. Gene's face was red, and it was obvious that tears were flowing down her face as she spit out the water. "Have I washed the smart mouth out yet, or should I try again?" Gene's eyes read fear and Jason smirked. "I see. Now, why don't you explain to me what happened to the computer systems? While the idiots here and S.H.I.E.L.D. can't tell when files are stolen, I can. I tried looking for the S.H.I.E.L.D. classified files, but the only thing I was able to find at all was a video clip of your brother singing a drunken rendition of 'Whiskey in Mind'."

Gene had to fight off the urge to laugh as she remembered that particular memory of her brother. Instead she steeled herself against making any smart remark, and decided that answering his question would be the best. "Kitty and I… we took the files. All of them, and we replaced it with that video."

"Very well, now where are those files?"

"Gone."

"Gone, where?" Jason asked again.

Gene shrugged helplessly. "No idea. Kitty had them. When she and Piotr got off of the Hellicarrier, I didn't get to find out what she did with it."

Jason's jaw clenched. "You don't know where they are?"

"No, I don't."

Jason nodded before getting up and tying the rag around her face again and grabbing the bucket to pour the remaining half of it on the screaming girls face. As soon as the bucket was drained, he untied the rag again and watched in glee as he saw the girl choking and practically turning blue as she tried to cough up the water that had gotten down her wind pipe. "W-Why… are you doing this?"

"Because I had to get rid of the rest of the water."

"N-Not… that…" Gene spoke before she coughed again. _"This_, stealing files. Why are you doing _this?"_

Jason looked up thoughtfully before looking back at Gene and smiling. "I'm doing this because I'm the best hacker there is. I get paid to do this. I get paid a large amount to make sure the job gets done. And the people I work for want this job to get done quickly and efficiently."

"Who do you work for?" Gene asked.

"I work for the people who pay the most. And right now, I work for the Light," Jason said, with a sneer. "Bunch of whack jobs that think that their little group can bring about change. A 'new era of mutant rule' they said. Got to say, it didn't sound all that bad, especially for people like us."

"People like us?" Gene asked as her shoulders dropped and her face started to lose the shade of red it had.

Jason nodded as electricity started to crackle around his fingertips. He toyed around with the power in his hands before he let it diminish. "People with powers. I see the way you've hidden away from who you are. You try to hide your powers, your eyes, but it's not a curse that you need to hide from the world. It's a gift. It's what makes us better than them. We should be on the same side, really."

"So why are you waterboarding me?" Gene glared.

"It's nothing personal," Jason said with indifference as he dried his hands on a hand towel he had in his back pocket. "I just needed to get the information. If it's any consolation I hate having to put my own kind through torture like that."

Gene snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, an apology. How thoughtful."

Jason narrowed his eyes for a moment before his expression turned pensive. "I've seen your skills in battle before. Yours and those of your friends. We could use more mutants like you guys in the fight. If you guys would just get down off your damn high horse, and realize that those normal people are the ones that are wrong. _We_ are the ones that are meant to rule."

"What?"

"You know you don't belong here," Jason spoke up. "These agents don't care about you. The people out there don't care about you. You need to stick with the people who are like you. Those who will actually give a damn about your existence. The Light, now they're a bunch of psychos, but they got the right idea. And there are others out there that'll help you out. They'll help us get the power and respect we deserve."

Gene looked down in thought for a moment before she looked into Jason's eyes. She looked utterly lost and confused. "What is the Light?"

Jason shrugged nonchalantly as he sat down in the chair across from Gene once again. "No clue. Don't care really; as long as I get the money I'm owed."

Gene was silent for a few moments. "So you don't know who they are? And you just work for them?"

"Yup."

"What did they want?" Gene asked, her eyes going hard.

Jason snorted. "The hell is it to you?"

"When I get tortured, beaten, and water boarded because I am trying to help people, I tend to get angry. I'd like to know what the hell it was all for!" Gene shouted, glaring at the man in front of her.

Jason laughed a bit before nodding. "Fair enough. The head honcho back at HQ wants the personnel files and weapons inventory. Something about studying the Avengers weaknesses and locating some 'awesome' weapon. The standard crap."

Gene glared at nothing for a second before she frowned. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Jason shrugged as he pulled out a trench knife he kept hidden in his boot. "Because I know you won't tell a soul." Jason watched as Gene's eyes land on the knife and she hung her head down, her body starting to shake like a child. He can't even believe it. She is actually crying. Oh, he wishes he could relish in the moment. But a sound causes him to re-think his guess. Gene lifts her head, and shows that she has a wide smile across her face as she throws her head back and starts laughing.

_Laughing._ Why on Earth would she be _laughing_ at her impending doom?

"Oh you're right! I won't tell a soul!" Gene says as her laughter rises to hysteric proportions. "But that's only because… you already told them yourself!"

Jason freezes. "What?"

Light invades the room and blinds them both. When Jason regains his sight, what he sees causes him to pale.

Natasha is leaning leisurely on a back wall of the room that had been blanketed in darkness, toying with a gun. Steve and Tony were standing just beside her, with Logan in between them both. Kitty materialized from one of the side walls, pulling along Remy, Warren, Piotr, and John. Thor and Bruce walk into the room from one of the back doors, and Clint is up in the rafters an arrow nocked and aimed at the electric mutant seated in front of Gene. The front door of the room opens, and Jason whips around to see Nick Fury and Agent Hill enter, guns drawn on him. Looking around the room again and noting the pissed off expressions gracing everyone's features, he realized he was truly and utterly fucked.

"You bitch…" Jason muttered as he turned to look back at Gene.

Gene merely smirked in response. "Jason! And here I thought we were having a pleasant conversation. By the way, you don't really know what my powers are do you?"

"Yeah I do. You have Remy's powers," Jason argued, momentarily forgetting the fact that some of the most fearsome heroes in the world were surrounding him.

Another laugh from a corner of the room and Jason's attention is drawn towards Remy. "Ma belle etoile may have ma powers, but she also doesn't need anythin' to hold on to when she charges."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jason questioned.

Gene grinned. "I'm glad you asked!" Gene shot out a ball of magenta energy into Jason's stomach, sending him into the air and landing on the floor by the door. She moved charged her arms before she ripped them up, breaking the metal restraints that had been holding her down. "You see, I can not only charge objects, but my own body. I can condense the charge to get increased strength or use it as fire power. Pretty cool huh?" Gene said as she ripped the restraints off her legs. "Honestly, I didn't really expect the waterboarding. I guess I give you points for that. But admit it. I made a good damsel in distress didn't I?"

"Ya had him eatin' outta ya hand," John snickered.

Natasha applauded. "I'm impressed. You've got serious acting skills there."

Gene took a bow.

"This is impossible…" Jason mutters to himself. He then looks up and glares at everyone in the room. "This can't be! I planned this all out! Every step! This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Aw, he's confused!" Kitty laughed. "You want to explain it, or should I?" She asked looking to Gene.

Gene shrugged. "I already talked a lot. You can have the floor," she stated as she got up from her seat and moved to walk over towards Logan and Remy who rushed to meet her.

Kitty looked towards the electric mutant on the floor before gesturing to him. "Thor, Piotr. Please pick up our guest here and place him in the nice chair we have set up for him." The two large men walked over and hauled a struggling Jason up from the floor. Jason tried electrocuting the two men, but Thor was the God of Thunder and merely laughed, while Piotr was in his metal form and was relatively unaffected. The two men slammed him into the seat while Tony and Steve walked forward to put on restraints, before the four of them stepped back. "Thank you, boys. Now, I believe explanations should be in order?"

"That would be great. I'm still kind of confused as to what was going on," Tony piped up in the corner of the room.

"Then let her explain, Stark," Fury ordered.

Kitty nodded. "Well it all started when Natasha confronted Gene…"

_Flashback_

"_So you mean to tell me that there is a computer hacker aboard the Hellicarrier right at this very moment?"Natasha asked skeptically as she looked up at the younger red-head. Gene nodded as she gestured to the computer screen once again. _

"_That's right. Whoever it is they're good too." _

_Natasha raised an eyebrow. "And how do I know it's not you?" _

_Gene laughed. "Think about it, Natasha. I have a group of friends with all different abilities. One of them being able to transport in and out very quickly, two of them who can read minds, another who can steal memories. If we __**really**__ wanted to steal your files we would have been able to do it with more stealth and finesse. Besides, we really don't care what you S.H.I.E.L.D. agents do as long as it doesn't affect us."_

_Natasha nodded. It made sense. "Do you have any leads as to who it might be?" _

"_Not a clue. Kitty and I, however, have a plan to lure him out. We're going to need your help though." _

"_How so?" _

_Gene pursed her lips, wondering how to phrase her thoughts, before responding. "This guy is going to get the files in two days if we don't do something about it, right?" Natasha nodded so Gene continued. "So, the only way for us to stop him from getting the files is to steal them from here first." Natasha's eyebrows shot up. "I know, I know. Not my best plan, but it's the only one we've got. But think about it. If we steal the files, and erase all of it from the database, then whoever it is wont have a choice in the matter. He'd __**have**__ to show himself to interrogate Kitty or myself so he could find out where the files were." _

"_Use yourselves as bait…" Natasha said pensively. She nodded and smiled. "Smart. But you have a major flaw in that plan. Whoever it was wouldn't be stupid enough to interrogate you while we're around. It's obvious we're all on good terms with one another." _

"_This is where you come in. I need you to sell us out," Gene announced, taking Natasha by surprise, before the assassin caught on. A grin graced her features. _

"_If I rat you out to Fury, he'd get pissed and lock you all up. People would be free to walk in and interrogate you because we'd give the order to find out what happened to the computer systems." _

_Gene nodded. "Exactly. We'll need some time to get the files though. Give us until tomorrow morning, and we should be done. It'll also give us time to get Kitty and Piotr out." _

"_Get them out, why?" Natasha questioned as she leaned closer to the girl. _

"_Simple. Piotr doesn't know anything about computers anyways and he would need to get Kitty out safely. And we can't have her getting interrogated cause she'd just phase through the punches. We need to make this seem as real as possible and as if we're as vulnerable as possible; and we'll need her to tell the plan to the others back at the Institute."_

"_And we need them to make the hostility seem more realistic?" Natasha guessed. "Bring in people to try and break you out so that there is an actual conflict to amplify the act?" _

_Gene grinned in admiration. "You know your stuff."_

"_It's in the job description." The two were silent for a moment before Natasha spoke up again. "We're going to need some more people. I'm good at keeping a poker face, and lying is second nature to me, but I'm not going to have the brawns to do something if anything goes wrong, and I have no idea how to work a computer system." _

_Gene frowned. "I hadn't thought of that… Logan can't help either seeing as he's going to be tied down until we need him. What about Tony? He's a good computer guy and has his suit." _

"_And have him spew our plan? I'm sorry, but he isn't much for the covert." _

_Gene nodded. "Good point. What about Steve? Or Clint?" Gene asked, her voice sounding a bit more hopeful as she mentioned the archer._

_Natasha shook her head. "Steve's a good man. He wouldn't have the stomach to watch you and Logan get tortured if you were actually helping us. And Clint's out of the picture for the same reason. He'd be liable to shoot one of our men in the eye with an arrow for hitting you." _

"_So… that leaves just two people then." _

_End Flashback_

"You knew?" Jason asked in shock as he turned his head around to look at the red-head assassin. Natasha merely shrugged, a small smirk threatening to pull at the corners of her lips.

"Who else do you think would be able to help them?"

Steve looked up in confusion. "Wait, how did Bruce and Thor get involved then?"

Kitty smiled as she looked to the two men in question, everyone ignoring Jason's attempts to flee. Even if they _did_ work, Remy had his deck of cards in his hands, and was just waiting for an excuse to use them. "Well, we recruited Thor and Bruce soon after that…"

_Flashback_

"_So… why are we all in a supply closet?" Bruce asked awkwardly. When he and Kitty had been called to meet with Gene and Thor, he had thought it would be in the cafeteria, or the gym, or even the meeting room. A small supply closet- which was small enough as is without shoving Thor's hulking frame, himself, and two other people into it- was not really what he had in mind. Nor was it comfortable. _

"_It was the only place beside our rooms that didn't have cameras in it," Gene rationalized. _

"_And we couldn't meet there, why?" Bruce asked again. _

_Kitty narrowed her eyes a bit at Gene, gauging what it is her friend was doing, before smiling. "Because our rooms are too close to the other rooms the Avengers have, and what we have to tell you is confidential," Kitty spoke up for her friends, guessing correctly as to what was happening. _

"_What is it you wish to speak about?"Thor bellowed. _

"_Shh! Inside voice, Thor." _

"_My apologizes," Thor tries to whisper, succeeding a bit._

"_So what is it that you two need?" Bruce asked. _

"_We need you to help us steal S.H.I.E.L.D. files." _

_Bruce's jaw dropped and he could already feel his anxiety start to get bad. Thor merely looked on in confusion, still not entirely aware of the gravity of the situation. Kitty, noting the expression Bruce had dawned, quickly went about explaining the hacker situation on the ship and their plan. "We need you and Thor to help us."_

"_How can we help?" Bruce asked in confusion, calming down after he had gotten the full explanation. _

"_We're going to need you to keep a watch out for the security systems. Watch the footage from the security cameras in the holding cell that Gene and Logan will be locked in and let us know if someone enters that's shady. When that happens, you'll need to play a sound bit through the speakers. It'll be like a dog whistle, but Logan will be able to hear it. Then you're going to have to call our inside man and tell them that it's time." _

"_Who is this man on the inside?" Thor asked. _

"_We'll tell you when the time comes," Kitty explained. _

"_And what of me?" Thor questioned. _

_Gene took over. "You're our Plan B. If anything goes wrong, or too far, we'll need someone with muscle to get us out of it. We can't very well have the Hulk running around while we need Bruce, so you're our go to guy." _

"_And when shall this plan commence?" _

"_Tomorrow morning." _

_End Flashback_

"Of course, there were complications, however," Bruce spoke up as he looked towards Thor, Tony, Clint- who had just jumped down from the rafters to join the group- and Steve in annoyance. Gene and Kitty shared a look, both thoroughly confused, before they both turned to look at Bruce, eyebrows raised.

"What complications?"

"What are you all going to do to me?" Jason questioned.

Fury walked up and smacked Jason in the back of the head. "Shut the fuck up. They're still talking."

Bruce continued on, ignoring the small quips from both Jason and Fury. "Well, Thor decided to defend your honor, and so I ended up having to explain everything to the others…"

_Flashback_

"_Explain! Explain! Explain!" Tony started chanting much to the annoyance of everyone in the room. He had found himself a seat on the floor- looking quite uncomfortable seeing as he was still in his suit- while Steve took a spot on the bed, Clint was leaning against the wall, and Thor was standing in the middle of the room. Bruce shook his head and sighed, trying to keep a handle on his annoyance lest the 'other guy' come out. _

"_Let's go Bruce. I want to hear this," Clint said. _

_Steve nodded. "What don't we know?" _

_Bruce groaned. "You're all getting the condensed version, okay?" After he received nods from the three men, and a grin from Thor, he continued. "Well, there's a hacker on the Hellicarrier trying to steal S.H.I.E.L.D. files, Gene and Kitty found out and decided to steal the files before the hacker did to keep them safe, and planned with Natasha to get them locked up. Now they're using themselves as bait to get the hacker to come forward, confess, and get some more important information. I'm supposed to be watching the monitors to make sure everything is good, and Thor is our stand-by guy. Any questions?" _

_The room was silent for a moment before everyone exploded. _

"_What?!"_

"_We let them get tortured?!" _

"_Why didn't you tell us?!"_

"_Who else knows?" _

"_We've got to get them out of there!" _

"_I informed you all!" _

_Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and tried toning out the shouts being hurled at him. Steve seemed to be the first to notice seeing as he stopped talking. Soon Clint and Thor both stopped, and Tony had settled for pouting. "In order? Tony, screaming 'What' really doesn't ask a question. Captain, it was their decision and their plan. Clint, again it was their decision, and Natasha knew you were emotionally involved. Fury and Agent Hill know, along with Natasha and the other mutants, we can't get them out until the job is done, and Thor, you weren't __**supposed**__ to inform them of anything."_

_The men were silent. "I guess it makes sense…" Tony spoke up._

"_I still don't like it," Steve added. _

_Clint covered his eyes with his hands and sighed. "I made a complete ass of myself to Gene." _

"_Try giving her flowers! Girls like flowers!" Steve offered, trying to help. _

"_Not going to work. For something like this you'll need some serious damage control," Tony spoke up. He, after all, had loads of experience with the subject of pissed off women. "You need something expensive, or thoughtful, or both." _

"_Jane Foster has told me that sincerity helps," Thor supplied. _

_Bruce nodded. "Thor's right. And if you said some pretty harsh things then-" _

"_I'm sorry, when did this become a discussion about my love life?" Clint asked in confusion. _

"_Well, you kind of brought it up," Steve pointed out. _

"_Then why don't we talk about you and Natasha?" _

_Steve's face turned bright red. Tony's lit up like the 4__th__ of July as a Cheshire cat smile graced his features. "You and the Widow? I didn't think you had it in you, Capsicle!" _

_Bruce rolled his eyes at the argument that had started behind him and turned back to the security cameras. His attention was immediately drawn to the camera panning the hallway outside of Gene's room. It showed a man walking towards it, carrying a bucket and some rags. "Shut up, you guys," Bruce spoke as he held his finger over the button to use the dog whistle. _

"_What's going on?" Tony asked and soon all the men were standing uncomfortably close around the scientist. _

"_Shh!" _

_As soon as Bruce saw the door to Gene's room slide open, he pressed the button. Knowing that meant he only had two minutes to call it in before Logan set himself free, he quickly got the earpiece on his desk and put it in his ear before gesturing for the others to follow him out the door. "We're ready." _

_Standing outside the holding cells where the other mutants were, Natasha received Banner's message and nodded to herself. "Copy." With that she entered the holding cell and noticed that Kitty had finally woken up. _

"_So it's time already?" Kitty asked as she looked at the Black Widow. Natasha had to refrain from laughing at the shocked faces on the men in the holding cell. Instead she just kept her poker face, allowing only for a small upturn in her lips. _

"_Yes, no if you're quite done napping Sleeping Beauty, we'll get ready to act."_

_End Flashback_

"You planned it… all of it… but that's impossible! You couldn't have known how everything was going to play out!" Jason accused. "How did you know?!"

"Hello? We're geniuses remember?" Kitty said smugly as she walked over and high-fived Gene.

The red-head then turned to look at Fury. "Cough it up old man. We won the bet."

"What bet?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.

Logan rolled his eyes as Gene took the hundred dollar bill from Fury. "They made a bet about how the plan would work. Fury said it'd fall through, while Gene said it would work perfectly."

"What are you going to do with me?" Jason asked, bringing the attention back to him.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to find some food. I'm starved," Kitty said as she headed for the door.

"Ooh! Count me in!" Gene cheered. She looked around the room and grinned. "You guys do with him what you want! Remy, Logan, or Clint just be sure to give him a nice injury for me okay?" With that the two girls skipped out of the room, followed closely by Bruce who said he didn't want to hulk out and Warren who wanted some food too. The others, however, merely grinned maliciously as they stalked closer to the scrambling boy.

Fury cleared his throat. "LeBeau, Logan, you and your men get first shot."

Said men in question smirked as the mutants stalked forward, Piotr shifting back into his metal form, John setting fire to his hands and laughing like a maniac, Logan extending his claws, and Remy charging up his cards.

Jason cried.

* * *

"I think they started already…" Kitty commented as she heard screams echoing down the corridor. Bruce and Warren didn't look all that disturbed by it and Gene merely grinned.

"He'll be alright. Maybe. Hey, you think they got some more chili?"


	10. Surprises

A/N: And here we are folks! The final chapter of this story! It's almost enough to bring tears to my eyes! Just kidding! I can't wait for this thing to be over with so I can get on to the sequel which has been plaguing my brain for the past few weeks now! There will be a very large twist at the end of this chapter and story which will lead off into the sequel! I hope you all like it and there will be a poll at the very end of this story because I'm thinking of dabbling in an Avengers AU story. Anyway, that will be explained later. Now, on to the final chapter! By the way… I kind of lied. This is well over 1,000 words and isn't as short as I thought it would be!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers of X-Men.

* * *

Avengers: Rise of Alliances

Chapter 10: Surprises

"Hey guys!" Kitty shouted as they approached the Institute. All of the X-Men had returned from their relief effort trip in South Africa, and were waiting to greet their missing members as they arrived. Kitty was clinging on to Warren as he flew towards the grounds. Beside them was Thor, carrying Gene on his back and Tony who had Remy. The others were in the Quinjet being driven by Clint and Natasha.

It had only been a day after the whole debacle with Jason. Word around the Hellicarrier was that Jason's face was unrecognizable and that he had severe injuries. Of course, no one knew for sure except those who were in the room that night seeing as Jason mysteriously disappeared. Rumors were already spreading about anything from murder, to dungeons, to being dumped in the river somewhere. No one really knew or cared though. As soon as interrogations were over, everyone had gone to sleep, thoroughly exhausted. The mutants all paired up and shared rooms, John and Warren rooming with Piotr and Logan, while Remy slept on the floor of his sister's room, not wanting to leave her alone for so long. And because of the whole 'overprotective brother' routine, Clint never got a chance to talk to Gene.

As soon as the group touched down, Kitty and Gene jumped from whoever was giving them a ride and ran over to the group of X-Men. "Professor X! Storm! You're back!" Gene called out as she and Kitty launched themselves over to hug Xavier and Ororo.

"It's good to see you girls save and sound. We've been told what happened," Xavier started.

As soon as they started a hug fest, everyone swarmed around them. Soon bodies were being lifted in the air- much to their dismay- as Jean made her way to the front of the group and hugged the two girls, Wanda and Rogue not far behind. "What happened ta ya?" Rogue asked after hugging the two girls as she noticed the bruises and cuts on Gene's face and the dark circles under Kitty's eyes.

"Just duty as usual," Kitty shrugged.

"Duty, nothing!" Ororo exclaimed as she looked over the two girls. She then peered over their heads to look at Logan who was approaching the group with the rest of the Avengers. "Logan! What happened to my girls?" She shouted.

Everyone in the Avengers gave the two a confused look. They hadn't known that Logan and Storm had a thing going on and that along with Evan, Storm saw Kitty, Gene, Remy and Rogue as her own kids. "You got a thing with the weather witch?" Tony asked in amusement.

Logan snarled. "Don't be calling any of my girls witches."

Kurt appeared just beside his sister and best friends and tackled them in a hug. "Homme!" Remy called out. "Watch it! Ma belle etoile is still hurt!"

Gene rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. Mon rocher is just being overprotective."

"Ya blame me? Ya see how much trouble ya get in?"

Professor X cleared his throat and cast a glance at the Avengers who were shifting awkwardly, all with the exception of Thor who was beaming. "Why don't we invite our guests inside, and get to know each other a bit better? Shall we?"

* * *

"You guys are SO cool!" Bobby gushed as he looked up at _the_ Avengers. The group talked for a while and got introduced to each other after explanations were all said and done and now they were being given a tour by some of the X-Men. Noticeably absent from the group of tour guides were Kitty, Gene, Remy, Piotr, Logan, and Ororo. Logan and Ororo were in a meeting with Jean, Scott, Xavier, and Evan about how the mission had gone. Remy and Piotr had gone with Gene and Kitty to get them checked out with Hank to make sure they were okay, and to shower and change. So, instead the group was being showed around by Rogue, Wanda, Bobby, Kurt, and Illyana.

"Well thank you! We are pretty awesome aren't we?" Tony asked as he strutted around in his Black Sabbath T-Shirt and blue jeans, finally happy to be out of his suit.

"You want me to sign these for you?" Steve asked softly as he smiled down at little Illyana, holding up the two comic books, and ten trading cards she had handed to him. All of them had pictures of him as Captain America on it. The small Russian girl said a few words that were directed at Natasha, before running to hide behind Wanda in embarrassment.

Natasha smiled. "She said that she would appreciate it if you did, and that you're one of her favorite superheroes aside from her brother, Remy, John, and Gene. She also thinks you're very handsome."

Steve's face flared red as he quickly autographed each item, making sure to keep pace with the group. Rogue noticed this and laughed. "Don't worry about it sugah. Illyana is always a sweetheart and just started ta get into the whole 'boys' phase."

"Aw, look at Capsicle! Making the little girls swoon!" Tony teased, earning a glare from the super soldier.

"What powers do you all have?" Bruce asked curiously.

Kurt 'bamfed' from beside Rogue to beside Bruce, startling the man. Everyone looked at Bruce to see that he hadn't been frightened enough to turn into the Hulk and sighed in relief. "I have ze power to transport from place to place," Kurt answered, grinning.

"I can do magic," Wanda answered waving her hand around slightly and causing the water hose nearby to start slithering around before lying dormant again. They turned to corner around the building and Bobby used it as his opportunity to show his skills. He transformed into ice before going making an ice slide and going ahead of the group.

"I can control ice!" Bobby spoke up as he landed by Illyana who was smiling and saying something in Russian, still not thoroughly comfortable with her English.

"She says she can control magic like Wanda, but she can go to a different world," Natasha said a bit skeptically for the young girl.

"And you?" Thor asked, his eyes bright and his entire demeanor childlike as he gazed at Rogue. Rogue smiled before tapping Bobby on the shoulder and creating ice in her hand. She then tapped her brother and transported behind Illyana, scooping the girl up into her grasp.

"Ah can absorb powers, memories, and energy," Rogue explained at the confused and shocked looks of the Avengers.

Tony pouted. "No fair. You mutants have the cool powers."

"_We _do?" Bobby asked in shock. "You guys are the Avengers! You made your own suit of armor that gives you cool powers!"

Rogue nodded. "As much as Ah hate ta say it- and Ah don't say this often- Bobby's right. Ya'll are awesome."

"You guys were the ones who handled the whole invasion just a few months ago, right? We saw it on the news," Wanda informed them. "We were on a mission in Asia, so we were happy with the assist. And you guys looked pretty cool."

"Well thanks!" Steve thanked, glowing with pride. The rest of the Avengers all gave grateful and proud looks to the X-Men.

"You call that a roundhouse? C'mon Rahne, I _know _you can do better than that!"

The group looked over and saw Kitty and Gene out on the field in front of them. The two girls were both standing in front of a group of younger X-Kids looking no older than 12 or 13 dressed in their uniforms. Rogue rolled her eyes. "Leave it to those two to immediately pick up on combat training the second they get back."

"Combat training?" Natasha asked with a quirked brow.

Wanda nodded. "Kitty and Gene are the best hand-to-hand fighters in the whole Institute aside from Logan, so they teach the younger and more inexperienced fighters before they move to the advance classed with Logan."

"Interesting…" Natasha spoke up, a small smile on her face. She would be asking for a spar with the two girls in due time.

Clint looked forward at Gene. She was in her quite form fitting uniform accentuating her curves, and the headgear covering her forehead and travelling down the side of her face to connect just under her chin, drawing attention to her face. The cut just under her eyebrow was scabbing over, as were the splits in her lip. The cut on her cheek had disappeared but the purple and black color on her skin showed the extent of her injuries from her time in the Hellicarrier. But it also showed that she was a fighter; showed the amount of pride she had as her black and red eyes scanned the area. Despite her injuries and the slight unnatural look of her eyes, Clint thought she couldn't look more beautiful.

"Ahem."

Clint tore his eyes away from Gene to see all of the Avengers and X-Men (minus Thor and Illyana; the former giving a piggy-back ride to the latter) staring at him with knowing looks.

"Starring is rude, Legolas!" Tony spoke up with a grin on his face.

Steve pointed over his shoulder. "I can see if I can find some flowers somewhere…"

"Someone mind filling us in?" Rogue asked.

Bruce nodded. "Clint has a thing for Gene."

"Gene? Our Gene?" Kurt asked, his brows furrowing.

Wanda looked back and forth between the archer and the Cajun before shrugging. "I've seen worse couples... actually scratch that. Me and my boyfriend _are_ a worse couple. I think you guys could work."

"Wait! Does Remy know about this?" Bobby whispered as if he had the biggest secret in the world. Everyone ignored him. The answer was obvious. If Remy knew then Clint wouldn't be standing there at that very moment.

"You know, now would be a good time to talk to her."

Clint sighed. "And if she's still pissed? What then, Nat?

"Then you grow a pair and deal with it like a big boy," Natasha spoke as she nudged him slightly, getting a couple 'ooh's' from the men. "Quit dancing around it and go and talk to her."

Clint glared at his friend for a second before realizing she was right. Taking a deep breath, and taking one last look at his friends, he headed across the field over to where Kitty and Gene were watching the younger kids spar, occasionally shouting out bits of advice. He saw when Kitty noticed him, and he was well aware of the fact that she had hit Gene's shoulder and gestured in his direction. Gene's eyes met his and his heartbeat quickened. He felt as if his heart would pound right out of his chest as he saw Gene walking to meet him. The two stopped when they were a few steps away from each other, Gene's eyes narrowed a bit, no longer hiding her demonic eyes.

"What's up?" Gene asked her voice a bit tense.

Clint exhaled slowly before speaking. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I did and said. Had I'd known what you were doing… but it shouldn't have mattered. I said some harsh things, and I know I came off as a jerk, and if you never wanted to speak with me again I'd under-" Clint was cut off by soft lips on his. He was shocked at first but soon melted into the gentle kiss before Gene pulled away, a smirk on her face.

"You were babbling."

Clint grinned. "Are you going to kiss me every time I start talking too much?"

Gene shrugged. "I was thinking about it."

"Ooh! I see some kissing!"

Gene narrowed her eyes a bit before whirling around and firing a magenta blast of energy towards Sam, who dove to the ground and shrieked like a girl. "Got something to say Cannonball? I suggest you dust the dirt off of your skirt and get to sparring! Jubilee, give him something to keep him occupied!" Gene shouted, eliciting a grin from said girl as she started to attack her friend.

"So… you're not mad?" Clint asked after gaining her attention once more.

"Nah, not really," Gene answered honestly. "I get pissed and I say a lot of crap. And you being scared of my eyes, was kind of unfair seeing as you weren't expecting it. You just tried to do what you thought was right, and I can't blame you for that. You were hurt and said things and, again, I can't blame you. Besides, you took care of me even after you thought I betrayed you. I never did get to thank you for that."

"So we're good? Because honestly, even though I didn't get a chance to say it, I have strong feelings for you too," Clint admitted.

Gene smirked. "I know. Actions speak louder than words after all. And I recall some pretty loud actions back in the lab."

"Chaton! Genevieve!" Kitty and Gene both turned to look at Remy who had jogged up to near where they were. Kitty ran up to meet them and gave him a questioning look. Clint noticed that behind Remy were Kurt, Bobby, Rogue, Wanda, joined by Jean, and Scott, all waving towards him and pointing to Remy, making scary and death gestures. The Avengers, however, seemed to amused to try and warn him about Remy. "Mags is at it again! Just took the Brotherhood losers out for an early mornin' destruction session! We gotta move!"

Gene groaned dramatically before turning to look back at Clint. "Duty calls."

"I see it does."

Gene pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to the marksmen, kissed him once more, before running to fall into step behind Kitty and Remy, who had already taken off towards the X-Men. "Sunspot, get Warren to run training!" Gene called out as she ran. Clint noticed that Rogue and Wanda sighed in relief that Remy hadn't seen him share a kiss with Gene before they also started running, the mutants falling into an easily practiced routine. Gene didn't spare a glance back as she and the other mutants got onto the X-Jet and flew off to who knows where. Clint just stood there for a while before his fellow Avengers ran up to him. "So, how'd it go?" Natasha questioned.

Clint grinned and nodded, prompting Natasha to offer a small smile. "What did she slip you?" Tony asked like a giddy child.

Clint unrolled the piece of paper and smirked at what was written inside.

_Yeah, I knew you'd come apologize. Genius, remember? Call me. My number's already on your phone. Which, by the way, I kind of stole from you without you knowing. It's back in your bag now though! Being a thief has it's perks. _

"I think I've got myself a potential girlfriend."

* * *

"I like Xavier and his merry band of mutants!" Tony spoke up as he took another drink from his glass. The Avengers were currently seated inside of one of Tony's limos, headed to who knows where. The billionaire hadn't specified where they were going after leaving the Institute, only saying that he had a surprise for them all. "I'm inviting them to my house warming party!"

"House warming party?" Natasha asked with a quirked eyebrow. "You're getting another house?"

"Kind of…" Tony trailed off, grinning like a child.

Thor smiled. "Where is this house of yours, Man of Iron?"

"I thought you lived in Stark Towers?" Steve asked with a pout on his face.

Tony snorted. "No, that's just my penthouse. I stay there whenever Pep needs help with work. I have two different houses."

"Then why do you need a third?" Clint asked.

Tony looked out the window, and smiled before answering. "Who says this house is just for me? If I'll direct your attention to your left." The group did as they were told, with Thor completely pressing his face against the window. What they saw took their breath away.

Coming just into view was a large gated property with stone walls covering the parts that weren't gated. Just beyond the gates was a beautifully kept lawn with different types of trees scattered around everywhere, offering shade, beauty, and making it look like there was a small forest within the gates. Past the greenery was a huge white mansion with a regal look to it and stones steps leading up to the front door. The one thing that stood out though, was the large red 'A' on the middle of the house, just above the door.

"Welcome to Avenger Mansion!" Tony spoke up with a proud tone. "You each have your own rooms- personalized by me and Pepper- there are three weight rooms, a sparring room, eight spare rooms, two labs- one for you and me each, Bruce- nine bathrooms, a huge kitchen, a military grade pantry and weapons locker, a shooting range in the basement, four different entertainment rooms, a medical area, a swimming pool out back- with a water slide I might add- and over twenty acres for us to have fun with!"

"And a girl sitting outside on the steps!" Thor exclaimed excitedly.

Tony nodded. "That's right Thor! And a girl sitting-" The billionaire cut himself off as he jumped over to the left side of the limo and noticed the same girl Thor was talking about. Clint and Natasha both shared a nervous glance. The girl on the steps was the very same girl that they had seen as Tony's screensaver for his laptop. The only differences were her hair being pulled up into a high ponytail, being decked out in a pair of denim shorts, black sneakers, and a green shirt, and there being a suitcase next to her leg. But they weren't worried about the girl, oh no. They were worried about the fact that the girl was standing in front of Pepper, both seeming to be talking seriously about something.

Tony didn't even wait for the limo to finish parking. He jumped out of the limo and ran over to the two women, his teammates jumping out after him. "You take Pepper, I'll get the girl out of here," Clint spoke to Natasha who immediately nodded. They didn't want a catfight on their hands.

"Alyssa!" Tony shouted. The girl looked over at Tony and beamed. Pepper turned around and- much to the surprise of the two assassins- had a huge smile on her face. The girl, Alyssa, took off down the steps and jumped into Tony's awaiting arms, the billionaire laughing as he hugged her and kissed her cheeks. "What are you doing here? I didn't expect you back until next Friday!"

"Will let her hop a flight sooner than anticipated because of an emergency at work," Pepper explained as she walked over and gave Tony a warm smile. He returned the gesture and leaned over to kiss her on the lips after placing Alyssa on the ground.

"Uh, Tony?" Tony turned around and looked at Steve who had spoken up. The rest of the Avengers had confused looks on their faces, for good reason. "Who is this?" Tony, realizing he hadn't introduced his teammates to the young girl beside him, beamed.

"Oh right! Alyssa, these are the teammates I've told you about. Guys, this is my daughter, Alyssa."

Silence.

"DAUGHTER?!"

* * *

Hey guys! I actually have a question for you all! I'm thinking of doing another Avengers story (in addition to the sequel that'll be coming up), that'll be an AU story. Now, I say this because I want to know what YOU guys think! Should I write one? And if I do, what should it be? A high school where the Avengers are teachers? Them as cops? Military men (and women)? Apocalypse story? Whatever you can think of! Whatever idea you think would be cool, I want to hear your ideas! The one I like the best I'll use to write the AU story, and any story I write will incorporate the X-Men and my OC's! Write ideas in the review or PM me!


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